It's a New Year...What are your Resolutions?

Happy New Year to our patients and fans of Novi Internal Medicine and Pediatrics!  Now that everyone has had an opportunity to recover from the holidays, it is time to start thinking about our goals for the New Year... and, more importantly, putting them into action!

You may resolve, like many others, to lose weight or exercise more this year.  But, this will not just happen without focus and hard work.  It is important to set a long term goal, but it is easier to achieve this long term goal if you make smaller, more short term goals that will reward you for your hard work.  If losing weight is your goal, we can help you to identify your goal weight for your optimal health.  Once you have identified the target weight, you can set a weekly goal for your weight loss so you are able to see your progress along the way.  Remember, that extra 50 pounds will not just disappear, but will come off at about 1-2 pounds per week.  Slow and steady progress is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.

We hope that all of our patients can make a resolution to focus on their health this year.  You may start by putting yourself back on your priority list.  You bring the kids in every year for their check ups, but have you had yours?  Be sure to schedule your yearly physical where we take time to review your medical history, family history and risk factors.  This can help you to identify what your major health concerns and risks are, and hopefully minimize these risks with appropriate interventions.  

At Novi Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, we, too, are making resolutions for the new year.  We will to continue to provide compassionate care to our patients, and we are always working to improve our procedures and practices.  We love to hear feedback from our patients, good and bad.  I (Dr. Leff), have made a personal resolution to try to keep our website up to date by posting articles, information, and blog entries on topics that are relevant to our patients.  So be sure to check back periodically for changes and become a "fan" on Facebook to follow our posts.

Happy New Year--we look forward to caring for you and your family in 2012!

"The Novi Docs"

New Changes for the New Year!

DEAR PATIENTS:
     We have finally been settling in to our new Electronic Medical Record and we appreciate all of your patience during this time of transition.  Things now are going much more smoothly and we think you will see the improvements that this tool allows.
     We have some other changes in line for the New Year that we want to share with all of our patients.


EXTENDED OFFICE HOURS:
     In attempt to accommodate our growing practice, and for the convenience of our patients, starting in January we will be extending our office hours.  Listed below are the new hours:
             
       

	OPEN	CLOSE
MONDAY	8:00 AM	7:00 PM
TUESDAY	7:30 AM	5:00 PM
WEDNESDAY	7:30 AM	6:30 PM
THURSDAY	8:30 AM	7:00 PM
FRIDAY	7:30 AM	5:00 PM
SATURDAY	8:00 AM	12:00 PM
SUNDAY	CLOSED	CLOSED

     We have added new early office hours to accommodate busy, working patients and families.  The first appointment of the day is a great time to get in and out of the office quickly!  We also have 3 late days for those who cannot be seen during the day or for urgent visits.  Also note that our Saturday office hours have changed.


NEW OB/GYN SERVICES:
      We are proud to announce our new partnership with a great OB/GYN group currently based out of Ferndale who are extending their practice to Novi.  Dr. Burton Brodsky, Dr. Jackie Taylor and Dr. Joseph Prezzato will now be providing their services in our office 3 times per week.  They will be in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.  So, if you are pregnant or have other gynecological issues, we recommend these highly skilled physicians.


EXISTING PODIATRY & COLORECTAL SERVICES:
      We would just like to remind our patients that we have a podiatrist, Dr. Noroyan, who comes to the office every other Saturday for your convenience.  We also have a colorectal surgeon, Dr. Priest, who is here one Wednesday per month.  You can schedule appointments with either of these physicians through our front desk.


Happy Holidays, and stay healthy!!


THE NOVI DOCS

Flu Shots...Important Information

      

With flu season rapidly approaching...We want to provide some information to our readers about this year's flu shots to answer some important questions.

Flu shots are recommended for all children (and ALL adults) over the age of 6 months.  The flu can be a serious illness in any child and in the elderly, regardless of their previous health status.  If you have a child under 6 months, the best way to protect them from the flu is to get yourself immunized.  Unfortunately, the most devastating effects of the flu can be seen in infants, so be sure to protect yourself and your baby.

Essentially, the only TRUE contraindication to the flu shot is an egg allergy (or a history of Gullian Barre Syndrome within 6 weeks of a flu shot, though this is RARE).  The intramuscular vaccine is manufactured inside of eggs, so egg allergy means no vaccine and even more frequent hand washing.

Though the H1N1 pandemic officially ended this summer, there is still a risk for this type of flu.  This year's flu shot is a COMBINATION of the H1N1 shot and the seasonal flu vaccine.  Though there were (unwarranted) concerns early last year about the safety of H1N1 vaccine, millions and millions of doses were given last year with no increase in adverse events reported.

For kids:  Who needs what and when...

< 6 MONTHS		NO SHOT
6 MONTHS-8 YEARS	NO PREVIOUS SEASONAL FLU SHOT	2 SHOTS
	PREVIOUS SEASONAL FLU SHOT, NO H1N1 SHOT	2 SHOTS
	PREVIOUS SEASONAL FLU SHOT, AT LEAST 1 DOSE OF H1N1 SHOT	1 SHOT
>9 YEARS	REGARDLESS OF PREVIOUS IMMUNIZATION STATUS	1 SHOT

 There is even more recent data proving that there is NO association of autism with vaccine preservatives (thimerosal).  However, there is plenty of preservative free vaccine available.  All vaccines for children under 36 months is preservative free.  The preservative free vaccine is in the individually stored syringes and does not need to be drawn up by the nurse.  

We strongly recommend a seasonal flu shot for all of our adult patients as well, regardless of previous health status.  

The best time to get the flu shot is EARLY IN THE SEASON.  The immunity will last well beyond this flu season and there is no sense in being unprotected early in the season.   And don't forget the importance of hand washing!

Click here for more information from our friends at the CDC.

We HAVE received our shipment of INFLUENZA VACCINE and our fridge is stocked with immunizations for both adults and children.  The intramuscular vaccine is available and this is a KILLED form of the flu virus.  You CANNOT get sick from the flu shot.

Stay healthy!!

Exciting Changes Coming to Novi Docs...

We are constantly striving to improve our practice to provide the best care possible for our patients.  You may have recently noticed some improvements to our NOVIDOCS website including the updates posted to this blog.  We hope that you will check in with us frequently to find information that will help to keep you are your family healthy. 

We are finding new ways to keep our patients posted on happenings in our office.  You can now sign up to receive email updates when we post to our blog on the left side bar.  Become a fan on facebook and we will be posting our blog updates on this page as well.  Feel free to send us comments about anything posted on the blog, including suggested topics for postings; we would love to hear from you.  However, please remember that the blog and the website is only set up to provide patients with information, and should not be used to email your provider or ask personal medical questions that you would not want viewed by our "community".

The most important change that we are preparing for at the office is the addition of our ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD.  That means that our office is going paperless, completely changing over from paper charting to computer charting.  The purpose of this is to provide you with the most current and best medical care possible.

The 'big switch' is scheduled to go live the first week in October.  We will be implementing many changes in our protocols including appointment scheduling, new forms and new ways of routing work in the office.  So, bear with us during this time; we may experience some growing pains along the way. Our ultimate goal is clear, to make your medical care more precise and more efficient.

We know that you will be satisfied with the end result.

Back to School Vaccinations

Back to school time is always a busy time for families.  New clothes, new back packs, first day jitters...and shots!  Be sure that your child is up to date with immunizations before starting school.  Most children need a school physical completed prior to starting school and we are able to fill those forms out at your child's yearly exam.  If your child has had a physical WITHIN THE LAST YEAR, we can fill out this form by mail.

Most parents are aware of their children needing pre-kindergarden shots...but recently more immunizations have been added for older children as well.

Be sure that your PRE TEENS & TEENS are up to date with their shots.
Click here for immunization information for PRE TEENS & TEENS.

-The Novi Docs

Vaccine Advocacy

Immunizations are a hot topic these days.  It is hard to go even a couple of days without hearing something on the news, by a patient, or by a friend questioning the safety of immunizations.  But unfortunately, sometimes information is not passed on to parents responsibly, leading them to make choices for their children based on information which is NOT fact.  This scares us at Novi Docs because these decisions can be LIFE OR DEATH decisions.  Children DO, even in America, die of PREVENTABLE and COMMUNICABLE diseases due to poor vaccination practices.  What a tragedy. 

We would like to pass on 2 EXCELLENT articles to our patients.  The first is a 'cartoon' about Andrew Wakefield, the British scientist who recently had his medical license revoked for his work on 'MMR and AUTISM'.  It is a quick summary of the lack of science behind his claims and the financial stake that he had in his research practices.

Click here to read: THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF DR. ANDREW WAKEFIELD

The second article is a great piece about RESPONSIBLE VACCINE ADVOCACY.   If you DO vaccinate your children, and do not want them to be at risk for communicable diseases from other, unvaccinated children, SPEAK UP.  Be PROUD of your stance to eliminate unnecessary illness and death in our country.  Consider becoming an advocate for vaccination.  Consider going to making an appointment to update your own vaccination status.  Fear the disease, NOT the vaccine.

Feel free to pass along the button above that says "Hug Me, I'm Vaccinated".

You can make a difference!

If you have any questions or concerns about vaccines or the vaccine schedule, please address them with your provider at your next health maintenance visit.  We welcome the opportunity to pass along educational information to our patients.

Welcome to our Blog!

Hello Patients!!

Welcome to our updated website and our new blog! Please continue to check back as we are working hard to provide you with useful resources relating to your health. We plan on blogging about common patient questions and concerns as well as important updates.

Thank you for visiting!

The Novi Docs