Health

On-demand video visits are convenient and timesaving for quick care

For the Dixon household in Palestine, the day usually starts with mom, dad and their two kids getting dressed and heading out to work and school.

However, one morning in February, everyone left the house except mom, who wasn’t feeling well. Leah Dixon, 40, the chief operating officer of the UT Health East Texas Physicians Group, woke with symptoms of a sore throat and sinus congestion, so she decided to work from home.

Unfortunately, her symptoms got progressively worse during the morning. Leah decided to access UT Health East Texas...

When you are sick at home and cannot get out to visit a healthcare provider, there is now a service that helps you get personalized healthcare in the comfort of your own home: on-demand video visits.

Leah Dixon, chief operating officer of UT Health East Texas Physicians, said the service is convenient and very easy to use — individuals just need to have a strong internet connection and a computer, smartphone or tablet.

...

Melisa Collum is very familiar with being inside a hospital. After working at hospitals in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then Wheeling, West Virginia, Collum moved to East Texas to care for her mother.

She continued her nursing career at UT Health Athens where she worked on the medical/surgical floor, the intensive care unit and the emergency department. She collaborated with and got to know many of the doctors at the hospital, including general surgeon, Dr. Robert Dorman.

But years later, Melisa, 47,...

When John Gaston woke up that spring morning in 2015, something didn’t feel right.

The 64-year-old was familiar with having shortness of breath because he had asthma his entire life. However, this shortness of breath, along with a lack of energy, was something new.

John called his primary care physician and was examined later that afternoon. His doctor said his heart rate was 180 beats a minute (normal is 60-100), so he asked him, “Can you drive yourself to UT Health East Texas or do you want to go by ambulance?”

“I can’t go to the hospital,” said John, “I’ve got a...

Cindy Hilliard, 64, doesn’t exactly remember when the irregular heartbeats started.

“It’s been about 5-6 years now, but I probably ignored them for quite some time before,” she said.

A truck driver who crisscrossed the U.S. for 18 years, Cindy enjoyed driving, especially on her favorite route. She would start at her home in Winnsboro, travel to Dallas, Los Angeles and Reading, Pennsylvania, before returning to Dallas and then back home – a journey over 5,800 miles that lasted 5 days.

“I never got to see many popular sites because of time constraints and because I...

Hospital volunteer becomes a patient after heart surgery

Chuck Winston finds joy in helping others.

The 85-year-old widow and resident of Ben Wheeler spends a couple of days each week volunteering his time in the pain management department at UT Health Tyler.

“I clean the beds, make the beds and roll people out to the main entrance when discharged,” said Chuck. He also stays active by walking his 5-acre property, filled with lots of oak and elm trees.

“After storms roll in and the wind blows, I always find fallen limbs scattered on the ground, which I collect and burn,” he said. “I stay pretty active and have never felt...

Losing weight and developing a healthier lifestyle is a journey many people want to take. Thomas Martin is living proof that it can be done.

The 67-year-old former gas and fuel oil plant operator has retired with his wife to their more than five acres near Frankston where he raises goats. He spends his days building and repairing fences for their livestock.

But at 340 pounds, Thomas had difficulty maintaining his energy levels while working around the home. To make matters worse, his weight was preventing him from enjoying his real passion: riding his motorcycle.

“I...

For Teresa Epps, the office manager of a local construction firm, managing her weight had been a constant battle. But after her successful gastric bypass surgery 2 years ago, she is now enjoying a healthy lifestyle with a fun and rather adventurous future.

“I struggled with my weight for a long time,” the 55-year-old Mount Vernon resident said. “I tried many diets and even lap band surgery.”

Lap band surgery involves placing an adjustable band around the top third of the patient’s stomach, leaving only a small area of the stomach to hold food and a larger area to digest the...

Photos of Brian Low before and after surgery by Dr. Charles Keith

For 34-year-old Brian Low, obesity was very depressing.

“I was severely obese and depressed,” said Brian. “At my heaviest, I weighed 388 pounds. It was hard to do anything, which made me feel terrible.”

Brian also suffered from sleep apnea, which is a potentially serious sleep disorder when one’s breathing repeatedly stops and starts through the night. In addition to snoring loudly, the person also feels tired in the morning, even after a full night’s sleep.

Feeling tired and depressed made Brian’s mood spin lower and lower every day. After a while, he knew he had...

Our body is like a finely-tuned automobile. Treat it right and it can last for a very long time.

But when you overload a vehicle with too much weight, the tires can wear out quickly and you face the possibility of a blowout. This extra strain also means the engine has to work harder to make the vehicle move, which usually means more problems down the road.

Merribeth Norman, who with her husband shares a love for driving and showing their antique car (above), had similar health concerns that led her to take serious steps to get back into good health.

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