The Siuslaw news., October 10, 2018, WEDNESDAY EDITION, Page 10A, Image 9

10A | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2018 | SIUSLAW NEWS
HEALTHCARE from page 5A
“I helped you out of bed,” Martin re-
called. “And you walked out here (to the
living room) with your walker.”
“It was not good,” David said. “I’m
sure Chris said, ‘I don’t think I’ll come
back there again.’”
“Oh no, not at all,” Martin said.
“We’ve got quite a little bond.”
David credits Martin for his recovery.
“It’s because Chris has been real
straight with me,” David said.
Martin took David’s vital signs and
talked more about medication.
“Do you want me to come back next
month?” Martin asked. “It’s up to you.
I’d be happy to come back out. If not,
you have my number.”
“I always enjoy the exchange, if you
want to come back out,” David said.
“Give Patricia the date, and we’ll get you
on the calendar.”
David didn’t have any upcoming doc-
tors’ appointments, so it was decided
Martin would come back to check on vi-
tals, and to make sure the balance issues
weren’t getting worse.
David talked about his experiences
with the local medical system.
“We’re lucky here,” he said. “I think
it’s a good hospital, and for the most part
you get good care. Pat and I are lucky.
We’ve probably got, I think, the best
primary care physician in the area, and
that’s Aaron Holmes. He is so awesome,
and he doesn’t quit. I hope he doesn’t do
like the other doctors and leave.
“I know they’re trying to get good
doctors in there. It’s hard getting into a
community like this, unless you want to
do geriatric medicine. Medicine here is
tough.”
“They’re doing okay”
As Martin was leaving the house,
he egged on David once again to keep
walking. “Make sure you use the sticks,”
he told David, who said he said he
would.
“He’s a talker, and he’s hilarious,”
Martin said as he drove back to Western
Lane Ambulance. “The visit went well.
First time I saw him, he could barely
walk from the bed 10 feet to a chair. Af-
ter the surgery, he was using the walker
inside his living room. Six weeks later,
he was able to take it down to the end of
the road and back. He was up to about
three-quarters of a mile, three or four
times a week.”
As for the strictly medical part of the
visit, there wasn’t much to report. The
vitals were good, there were no dangers
around the house. Still, the visit took an
hour.
“A big part of my job is the social
aspect, particularly people out here
who are retired,” Martin said. “They’re
in their home and they don’t get out.
One of things I do is encourage them
to go out to places, see people and get
involved. There’s a senior center, with
lunches to go out to.”
But what about patients like David,
where mobility is an issue?
“There’s also places that will come out
and give rides,” Martin said. “We just
need to get them out and about. Today
became a lot less medical and more so-
cial. Just making sure he can get stron-
ger and better.”
For Martin, the social aspect of the
Mobile Integrated Healthcare program
is key to understanding why it works.
“Depression leads to a lot more med-
ical problems, which leads to a lot more
visits to a doctor’s office,” he said. “That
leads to more money for them to have
to pay out after insurance. If it takes me
going out and talking to them for a few
minutes, then I have saved money. It
saves the patients’ money, as well as the
insurance company and the hospital. By
just going out there and talking to them.
“A lot of people just want reassurance
that they’re doing okay.”
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