- Community, Wellness, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogCaring for patients and practicing medicine became a passionate personal commitment for Charles Kinzer, MD. So, when the doctor, retired from his primary care practice, he dedicated the next 15 years to caring for patients free of charge. Dr. Kinzer volunteered his time at the Annapolis Outreach Center (now the Community Health Center) which provides free medical care to underserved and underinsured patients. “The center is important because it provides a way for patients who have limited resources to go for primary care,” Dr. Kinzer says. “I wanted to keep a hand in medicine, and stay involved in the field,” Dr. Kinzer says. So, in addition to conferences and continuing education, he spent one day a month seeing patients at the center. It provided him with a way to maintain a link with the community—a community that has always been important to him. He says he first chose to come to Annapolis in 1965 because, at the time, it was a country town with a couple of colleges and the seat of the State Government. When he joined AAMC, there were only 65 doctors on staff, and everyone knew each other. Even though the town and the medical center have grown significantly since then, Dr. Kinzer believes it’s important to hold on to the personal aspect of medicine. “Put away your machines and listen to your patients,” he says, “They are telling you the diagnosis.” Dr. Kinzer brought that personal touch, and deep concern for the person as a whole to the patients he saw at the free clinic. “They all had stories to tell,” he says. “That’s what made medicine fascinating.” He recently retired from his volunteer position at the clinic after 48 years in of practicing medicine and caring for our community. Now he enjoys going to lunch with the RODEO gang (Retired Old Docs Eating Out). It’s a way of keeping up with partners and friends.
- Cancer Care, Men's Health, Women's Health, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogWhen Carol Thomas learned she needed surgery to treat her lung cancer, she imagined the surgery would involve major incisions across her chest and a very difficult recovery period. But thanks to minimally invasive robotically assisted surgery, the 50-year old Bowie woman was left with just five two-inch incision scars. Two weeks after surgery she returned to work, and within three months, she was swimming half a mile twice a week and planning her next triathlon. Carol’s cancer was found just days after she completed a triathlon in North Carolina, and she was surprised at how fast she was able to return to her active lifestyle. Her thoracic surgeon, Avedis Meneshian, MD, removed the middle and lower lobes of her right lung using a technique in which surgical tools are inserted through small incisions along with a tiny video camera. With the video to guide him, Dr. Meneshian can operate without opening a patient’s chest. Although, it has been proven to improve patient outcomes, only about one third of surgeons in the country who treat lung cancer offer a this Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) approach. “I am so glad that Dr. Meneshian was able to do that type of surgery for me rather than the old way,” Carol says. “I know it’s made a drastic difference in where I am in my life right now.” “My friends that I run and bike with bought me a t-shirt that says “lungless,” Carol laughs. “They’re 20 years younger and they’re worried a lungless 50-year-old woman will beat them.”
- Men's Health, Women's Health, Heart Care, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogForty-six-year-old Wayne Gebelein still plays lacrosse on the 35-and-over league. He’s just not ready to move up with the 45-and-over crowd. “I’m a competitive guy,” he says, “I feel like I can do anything.” But he knows that attitude can override his better judgment. In 2011, the Severna Park resident felt chest pains while moving some boxes. Although his father and grandfather both had suffered heart attacks, Gebelein ignored the nagging evidence until the pain went away. But when it returned two weeks later, he called his wife and asked her to make a doctor’s appointment. “She said, ‘Absolutely not!’ You’re going right to the hospital,’” he says. “I was in the emergency room at Anne Arundel Medical Center when I went into a full-blown widow-maker,” recalls Gebelein. “I felt a sharp pain and thought, ‘I think I’m having a heart attack.’” The emergency department team immediately transported him to the cardiac catheterization lab, where Interventional Cardiologist Jonathan Altschuler, M.D., removed the clot blocking a major artery to his heart. “If Mr. Gebelein had procrastinated any longer, he may not have made it,” says Dr. Altschuler. “If he had, he would have been left with significant damage to his heart, and his quality of life would have been altered significantly.” Dr. Altschuler says too many patients deny or minimize the symptoms of a heart attack and wait too long to receive care. He is the director of the cath lab which celebrated its 10th year in November. During that time, more than 1,000 heart attack patients have been treated. “The key is to get care fast,” he says. One thing that helps patients receive care fast is Anne Arundel Medical Center’s relationship with emergency medical services (EMS) in the surrounding counties. EMS can transmit a patient’s EKG to the emergency department while they are en route to the hospital. If the patient is having a heart attack, the cath lab team of cardiologists, nurses and technicians springs into action 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Thanks to the cath lab, Gebelein received the care he needed just in time. “I feel like I can run through a brick wall,” he says. Competitive as ever, he knows now that he’s not invincible and has learned to listen to his heart.
- Women's Health, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogAlthough radiation therapy successfully treated 64-year-old Mary Davis’ anal cancer, it left her with painful scar tissue in the vaginal and anal areas. Often a side effect of radiation and surgery in the genital area, the build of scar tissue can cause narrowing and shortening of the vaginal canal. The condition is called vaginal stenosis. It can make intercourse painful, and in some cases, impossible. For Mary, regular physical therapy at the Women’s Center for Pelvic Health has helped to keep the scar tissue flexible and the vaginal canal open. “Without the physical therapy, everything sort of closes up,” she says. “Working with the therapist has helped to keep the scar tissue from tightening. It’s something I could not do on my own.”
- Women's Health, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogFor many years, Alice Thompson wasn’t able to empty her bladder completely when she urinated. Over time, her symptoms grew worse until the 72-year old woman from Upper Marlboro was barely able to urinate at all. “It was getting quite painful,” she says. “I always felt like I had to go, and I couldn’t go.” Alice suffered from bladder retention. The nerves that control her bladder were not receiving the signal from her brain that her bladder was full. Doctors at the Women’s Center for Pelvic Health implanted a small device in her lower back that stimulates the sacral nerves. “I think of it as a pace maker for my bladder,” Alice says. “Now, I’m able to go to the bathroom and void completely.” Since having the InterStim Therapy device, Alice has also been able to reduce the amount of medicine she takes for other conditions. “My kidneys are functioning better, and it’s made a huge difference in my life.”
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