Jo. Co. Public Health and AllCare Form Partnership

After being understaffed at the clinic for years, Josephine County Public Health, located at 715 NW Dimmick, has entered into a partnership with AllCare to improve services to residents of Josephine County. Jenny Kowalczyk, a women's health nurse practitioner was hired by AllCare, along with two registered nurses, to deliver healthcare services at Public Health.
Kowalczyk was hired in March after an extensive interviewing process in which both AllCare and Public Health "were in awe" of her qualifications and zest for the job. She "impressed the group not only with her excellent IT skills and easy-going personality but her strong desire to care for people, not just resolve a medical problem."
After a phone interview, Kowalczyk came out from Wisconsin, thought the area was breathtaking, and accepted the job. She has been the catalyst in updating the clinic and offering quality services efficiently.
Josephine County Public Health clinic provides an array of services, from childhood immunizations and routine adult immunizations to yearly physicals and confidential STD screening.
"We think of ourselves as treating the whole family," Jenny said. "Moms and dads can come in for WIC services, be seen in our reproductive health clinic for yearly exams and check-ups, and receive birth control and counseling. We also provide the entire family their immunizations, from birth to yearly flu/pneumonia shots to a booster for tetanus."
As part of the partnership, AllCare will be paying the salaries of the three new nurses, while the County maintains the clinic and support personnel. This "in-kind" grant and landmark program will allow the County to see 4-5 times as many patients as it currently does, delivering vital services to the community.
Although AllCare employees are providing care at the clinic, they are providing to all residents in the community, not members of AllCare's health plans. Doug Flow, CEO of AllCare, said, "Partnering with the Public Health Department is great for both of us. Really, it's an extension of our mission: providing quality health care for our communities."
The clinic will provide breast and cervical cancer screening, family planning services, HIV prevention programs, parent and child health programs (with home visiting), women/infant/children nutritional programs, and women's health care.
Dealing with teen pregnancy and the increase in STD rates will also be a primary focus. While teen pregnancy rates have dropped throughout the state, Josephine County remains one of the highest, showing a 7% teen pregnancy rate. The county is also seeing a significant increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). If left untreated, they can cause long-term health problems, including infertility.
For more information or to set up an appointment, the phone number is 541-474-5325.

Pain Free and Fully Functional at Bear Perrin Rehab

As a sports trainer, Bear Perrin knows all about the human body and what it takes to recover and/or avoid injuries.
"I became interested in what I do when I had an injury to my knees that no doctor could explain," Bear said. "Their answer was surgery, but if I couldn't figure out why I had the problem to being with, I'd likely have it again and would have to change my very active lifestyle. I began studying the body, how God made it, and how it should work if it had no imbalances or injuries."
"Active lifestyle" is putting it mildly. Bear was a competitive mountain biker for 20 years, ten of those being professional, was an assistant coach for a Division I volleyball team, and played on a college indoor team and semi-professional outdoor team. His family moved to Grants Pass in 1971, and after moving back to southern California in 1983, he returned to the Rogue Valley in 1997.
"As a sports trainer working with college athletes, I had an understanding of the muscular structure of the body, but I wanted to understand more so I began to study anatomy, physiology, kinesiology and nutrition," Bear said. "I took that knowledge and developed a program that consistently produced positive, lasting results."
Bear began his career 15 years ago in a chiropractic office. "The combination of chiropractic adjustment and muscular correction greatly increased the likelihood of the patient's adjustment 'holding,' " Bear said. "In other words, if certain patients only had chiropractic adjustments, they often had to do it on a regular, continual basis, but with muscular imbalances being corrected, those patients were able to go much longer between visits, due to the fact that the muscles weren't pulling bones back out of alignment."
Bear and his wife/co-owner Rikki are not physical therapists or massage therapists. "We train our clients to understand what is happening in their own bodies to cause the pain or limited movement they experience," he said. "We've had patients as young as one year old and many in their 90s, with hundreds of people in between. People often tell us they didn't think it was possible to gain back the ability to walk without a cane, to get up off the floor, or just to live without pain, but now they know it is."
Bear Perrin Rehab is located at 207 SW G Street, Suite D. The phone number is 541-787-7555. You can also visit them on Facebook. For more info, see their ad on page 26 of this issue of the Sneak Preview.