TowerTalk Volume 2 Issue Nr. 10, December 1981

              Fit Facts
? *
Lynne Stanfield
Jazzercise � Classes meet on
Mondays and Wednesdays from
4:00 to 4:45 p. m. in the Mullen
Auditorium. Sign-ups are continuous
and will be taken by the instructor.
Cost is $ 15 per month or $2.50
per session.
Aerobics Class � This class will be
held in the Assembly Room,
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:45
to 4:30 p. m. Cost for the class is
�20. Classes meet January 5 through
February 25. Sign-ups in the Cardiac
Rehab Center.
Skiing � The first downhill trip is
scheduled for January 16 at Copper
Mountain. The group will meet at 7
a. m. in front of the Midtown Building
(2005 Franklin St.) and carpool up.
Cost is S18 for lift ticket and shared
car expense. Sign-up by January 11
in Cardiac Rehab.
Running Club � "Joe's Joggers"
are still doing lunch time runs
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Meet us at noon to burn off rhose
extra holiday calories!
In A
Family
(Practice)
Way
m
Family Practice physicians�the
name conjures up recollections of
Norman Rockwell paintings: the
wise, old family doctor giving
randpa his yearly physical, placing
e band-aid on the skinned elbow
of a young, freckled-faced baseball
player and listening as the little girl
offers her medical opinion on the
health of her doll.
And although the years and
advances in technology have done
much to replace those romanticized
scenes, Saint Joseph Family Practice
Center Director D. L Ervin, M. D., still
sees the family procrice doctor in
much the same light.
Dr. Ervin believes in the theraputic
value of a total or "holistic" approach
to the health of a family unit. "Having
been in this field for many years and
having had the good fortune to
serve as many as four generations of
a single family, I think the family
doctor has a better understanding of
what it fakes to maintain the health
of o family."
The holistic approach�which
involves preventative health care
measures as well os curing a specific
complaint�"is useful to these
families and it has been more
rewarding to me," he says.
The physicians who apply for and
re accepted into the practice at
1570 Humboldt Street, Dr. Ervin
says, are of the same frame of mind.
"Their drive is nor to become experts
in a certain field, their motivation is
to give good care overall."
But a large parr of that care is the
family practice doctors knowing
when the problem goes beyond
their ability to cure, and making the
appropriate referrals to physicians
who have specialized in a field. The
family physician is also trained ro
assist the specialist by ruling out some
causes of a patient's complaint and
letting the specialist take it from
there.
The Saint Joseph Center, which
recently had its residency program
approved for four years and is one
of only a few in Colorado to be fully-
accredited, has two major purposes.
One is to train physicians to enable
them to be certified by the American
Board of Family Practice, and the
second is for those physicians to
provide "personal, primary medical
services for patients of all ages," Dr.
Ervin soys.
He claims that a well-trained
family physician can provide
"definitive care" in 85 percent to 95
percent of the problems that bring a
patient to the doctor's office.
"And part of our rroining is to teach
that physician to utilize consultants
appropriately and effectively so the
other i 0 or 15 percent can be
referred ro an appropriate and
competent specialist," Dr. Ervin
adds.
Dr. Ervin says that his facility is only
seeing about two-thirds as many
patients as they are staffed to handle
and feels that more Saint Joseph
employees would be well-advised
to take advantage of its services.
Very little, if any, waiting is
necessary for an appointment, even
for rhe day the patient makes the
call. If a hospital's services are
required, most patients will be
referred to nearby Saint Joseph,
although children mighr be senr to
Children's Hospiral. There is also
some adjustment in fees charged,
depending on the patient's ability to
pay.
"And most importantly our
physicians, as part of our training
program, are required to be very
thorough and be concerned about
the general health and welfare of
rhe family under rheir care," Dr.
Ervin says. "And that includes
reducing health risks rhe family mighr
not be aware of at that time."
One can't help but think Rockwell
would approve.