Medical Briefs
The St. Charles County Family YMCA is offering a free fitness consultation and one-week pass to residents who come in to test out the facility's new fitness equipment. The YMCA is located at 3900 Shady Springs Lane in St. Peters.
Call 636-928-1928 before Aug. 15 to schedule a consultation and receive a pass.Rana joins clinic medical group
Rimki Rana, MD, has joined the SSM St. Charles Clinic Medical Group's family medicine department. She joins the office of Drs. Binz, Ganninger, Lord and Sattler at SSM St. Joseph Medical Park, 1475 Kisker Road in St. Peters.
As a board-eligible family physician, Rana offers services for people of all ages. Her services include but are not limited to:
- preventive care and checkups, including immunizations; school, work and sports physicals; and women's health services
- identification and management of acute problems
- identification and management of chronic diseases
Rana recently completed the family medicine residency program at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines. Prior to that, she was a research fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Rana received her medical degree in India and moved to the United States in 2001 with her family.
Rana welcomes new patients, accepts most insurance plans and often has same-day appointments available. She can be reached at 636-498-5810.
Walgreens clinics offer shingles vaccine
Take Care Health Systems, which manages health care clinics located inside Walgreens, now offers the shingles vaccine.
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is caused by the same virus as chickenpox. Once a person has had chickenpox, the virus remains dormant in certain nerves of their system. If the virus becomes active again, usually later in life, it causes a painful rash. The first signs of shingles are itching, tingling and burning of the skin.
Shingles is far more common in adults over 50 than in younger people, and age, stress and problems with the immune system may increase the chance of developing shingles.
"Roughly 43 million adults are at risk for the disease. For adults over 60 years old, the vaccine can reduce their chance of getting shingles by half," said Sandra Ryan, chief nurse practitioner officer for Take Care Health Systems. "By expanding access to the vaccine, we hope to give more patients the opportunity to get important preventive care."
Take Care Health Clinics will administer the shingles vaccine to adults 60 or older. It is given as a single dose by injection under the skin. If a patient gets the virus despite being vaccinated, it may help reduce pain and lower the risk of chronic pain that can follow. The vaccine cannot be used to treat shingles once a person has it, though it may help to prevent further outbreaks. The vaccine may not protect everyone who receives it.
The clinics inside Walgreens stores at 2310 S. Old Highway 94 in St. Charles, at 2920 Highway K in O'Fallon and at 1993 Wentzville Parkway in Wentzville offer the vaccine.
The shingles vaccine may be covered by a patient's pharmacy benefit. For more information, patients should contact their pharmacy benefit plan administrator. The cost of the vaccination is $219.99 for uninsured patients or cash payers.
Health foundation seeks applications for board
The Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) is accepting applications from individuals wanting to be considered for nomination to the Board of Directors.
Five board positions are available each year. Directors govern MFH's efforts to provide funding to nonprofit organizations that help improve the health of the state's uninsured, underinsured and underserved residents.
MFH is the largest non-governmental funder of community health activities in the state, and is the second largest health care conversion foundation in the United States. Its 15-member board manages $1.3 billion in assets and distributes $60 million in grants annually. MFH's service region covers 84 Missouri counties, plus the city of St. Louis.
Board members serve without pay for three-year terms, and must live within the MFH service region. MFH is committed to a board that represents Missouri's gender, racial, cultural, geographic and ethnic diversity.
Applications are reviewed by MFH's Community Advisory Committee, which then presents 15-25 candidates, from which the board will select five to fill available positions.
All applications must be postmarked by Aug. 22. To receive an application packet or to review eligibility guidelines: visit www.mffh.org; call 314-345-5500 or toll-free 800-655-5560; or send a letter requesting information to Community Advisory Committee, Missouri Foundation for Health, 1000 St. Louis Union Station, Suite 400, St. Louis, MO 63103.
