Sartell Pediatrics was recently honored with a performance award from HealthPartner. These awards are part of HealthPartners’ “Partners in Excellence” program, which strives to improve the quality of the patient’s experience and the affordability of healthcare in Minnesota. Sartell Pediatrics received recognition for outstanding measures taken to manage the costs of medical care and increase generic drug utilization for their primary care patients. The clinic is a member of Integrity Health Network. HealthPartners, based in Bloomington, Minn., serves more than 1.4 million medical and dental health plan members nationwide, and is the top-ranked commercial plan in Minnesota. IHN is the largest, most comprehensive network of independent care providers in the region. Independent clinics are not owned by a corporate system, but by the physicians who live and work in their communities.
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Three PineCone Vision doctors recently attended the American Academy of Optometry’s 92nd annual meeting in Seattle. Drs. Sara Bierwerth, Nicholas Colatrella and Stacy Hinkemeyer attended.
Bierwerth received a fellowship from the American Academy of Optometry. Fellowships are awarded to optometrists who have met rigorous qualifications and demonstrated contributions to optometry or vision science. Both Drs. Nicholas Colatrella and Stacy Hinkemeyer are also Academy Fellows. “We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Bierwerth as a Fellow,” said owner and medical director Dr. Colatrella.
Colatrella, PineCone Vision Center owner and medical director, was also honored by his peers for his work and leadership as a founding member of the Anterior Segment Section.
The mission of the Anterior Segment Section is to promote collaboration between researchers and clinicians with an interest in anterior segment disorders of the eye. Members promote excellence in the care of patients with anterior segment conditions through professional education and by advancing clinical research. Doctors identify new questions for research as well as disseminate knowledge, not only to the fellows of the Section, but to the entire Academy and profession of optometry.
“We share critical cases and clinical information,” says Dr. Colatrella. “As chairperson I am able to bring over 500 fellows together to focus on anterior segment disorders and make strides in this key area.”
The conference included more than 250 hours of lectures and workshops for optometrists and vision scientists. Attendees benefitted from scientific research presentations and special-interest-group symposia. The plenary session discussed groundbreaking ocular regenerative therapies with stem cells. While there, Colatrella, owner and medical director, collaborated to produce an optometrist video resource on sutureless amniotic membranes. The video can be viewed at http://eyetubeod.com/series/daily-coverage-seattle-2013/bekusadig/. PineCone Vision Center is a state-of-the-art comprehensive eye-care provider with a team of vision-care specialists and a professional staff providing the best eye-care solutions available.
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Two Sartell Middle School Academic Triathlon teams competed in their first meet Dec. 6 at Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph. The teams placed first and second. The second-place team consisted of (front row, left to right) Brad Kalla, Janagan Ramanathan, Elaine Lo and Adrienne Gefre. The first-place team consisted of (back row) Jaden Nguyen, Mallory Daniels, Ella Krauel and Amber Pietrowski.
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Isaac Eickhoff, son of Amy and William Eickhoff of Sartell, was recently inducted into the Bethel University Honors Program for the 2013-14 school year. Bethel’s Honors Program is a broad-based, liberal arts program that combines four all-honors classes, individual work with professors in two additional courses, and an ongoing program of social events, cultural activities, speakers and forum presentations. Students must commit to two honors courses their freshman year and maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.3, rising to 3.4 by the end of their sophomore year.
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St. Cloud Orthopedics hosted its annual Jingle Bell 5k on Nov. 23. More than 250 people turned out to run or walk the 5k in 13 degrees F. to raise money and donate toys for the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program. More than 500 toys were donated during the event.
Two hundred twenty-three runners participated in the 5k, some as young as 7 years old. The walkers started before 9 a.m. and the last walker 87-year-old Irene Pundsack finished soon after the last runner crossed the finish line; however, it did not phase her as she completed the 5k in 1 hour and 35 minutes, her personal best.
Pundsack broke a hip two-and-a-half months before the 5k and broke the other hip a year prior.
“Eugene signed me up without me knowing… ‘He said you’re signed up for the Jingle Bell walk’… and I said ‘What?!?!’” Pundsack said. Eugene is her son who also walked with her during the 5k.
The last time she walked the 5k she completed it in 1 hour and 54 minutes – before her last broken hip.
“She recovered better this time…she knew after the first broken hip, she could do it again, and Amy [aquatic therapist at the Sports Center] got her into shape for it,” Eugene said.
Pundsack had other family members walk with her as well including her other son David, daughter Susie, granddaughter Michele, grandson-in-law Scott, and a friend Connie. With the news she was signed up for the 5k, Pundsack told her granddaughter she had to walk it with her.
“Grandma said if I can do it…so can you,” Michele said. Michele had knee surgery two weeks before the walk.
“I talked to Scott [her husband] and told him, grandma told me I have to do the Jingle Bell with her…so I talked to Chad [physical therapist at the Sports Center] and he told me if grandma said you have to…you have to…you can’t say no to grandma,” Michele said about how she was roped into the 5k.
Pundsack and her family started the walk together and finished together. Pundsack said she hopes she will be back next year.
St. Cloud Orthopedics has the only orthopedic specialists in the area. They treat more than 9,000 new patients and a total of more than 20,000 patients each year. Dr. Edward LaFond, brought the orthopedic specialty to Central Minnesota, founded St. Cloud Orthopedic Associates Ltd. in 1955. In 1977, the Physical Therapy department was opened, which is now called the Orthopedic Sports Center. St. Cloud Orthopedics provides patients with complete musculoskeletal health care with the goal of improving the quality, cost and access of care for patients and their families.