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Largo woman tells story of overcoming opioid use after years of struggle
LARGO, Fla. – A Largo woman injured her back at 29 years old and spent years taking pain medication she didn’t even realize was opioids.
Kathleen Beckers, of Largo, went to a pain doctor after hurting her back at work. “I did nothing but sleep,” Beckers said. She realized she needed an alternative solution because her kids asked her, ‘Why are you sleeping all the time?’ Beckers said the pills didn’t even help with the pain.
Nearly 30 years later, she came across Dr. Brett Reuter of Advanced Medical of Florida, who has two offices in Pinellas County.
“There’s a generation of people that got hooked on this stuff and we’re looking for alternative solutions,” Dr. Reuter said.
Kathleen was taking several medications, including opioids. But when she started working with the Advanced Medical interventional pain team, they performed a procedure for her to get rid of the pain.
“It’s a nonsurgical solution that got the pain and inflammation down so much that all of a sudden she can start exercising and physical therapy, which she couldn’t do before,” Dr. Reuter said.
Kathleen describes it as a miracle. She says, ‘to pray, have faith, and keep looking.’
Clearwater medical clinic goes green in and out of the office
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The staff of Advanced Medical of Florida gets together four times a year to pick up garbage along the beach, but they do much more for the environment all year long.
Senior physical therapy assistant Isabella Thayer came up with the idea. “Last year around April, Earth Day was coming around,” Thayer explained. “I looked around and thought, there’s a lot more we can be doing to make a positive impact, not just with our patients, but out in the community.”
Thayer is passionate about the beach and thought it was a great place to start. “We could clean up the beaches, and get more team members and other people involved, and show them that what we do every day really matters,” Thayer said.
But then Thayer decided to take her efforts a step further and encourage changes at the office. She said, “I looked around at what we were doing at work, and thought we could reduce our carbon footprint and take charge of our little daily activities. The things we do every day. The small things.”
In the office, everyone now brings reusable lunch bags. They also bring their own silverware from home versus using plastic silverware. Thayer said, “If there’s plastic in the clinic we may shake our finger at you for the day and say, ‘Hey, where’s that reusable cup?’”
The staff also uses metal reusable cups, rather than paper or plastic ones. The office now uses rechargeable batteries and has reduced its paper use. The team also went paperless by putting more documents on a computer. They are also using rechargeable batteries.
Thayer adds, “At first it was quite a bit of a challenge. There was definitely resistance. Not because they didn’t like the idea, but because changing any habit can be difficult. When you put more responsibility on yourself, obviously that’s a time you have to think about what you’re doing.
But once everyone realized how easy it is, and the little changes that we do make, really make an impact on our community and our environment, it’s been so easy.”
Thayer said a lot of team members also began changing what they do at home and began educating their family and friends.
She hopes other Tampa Bay area offices will follow in their footsteps and do their part for the environment.
https://www.fox13news.com/news/clearwater-medical-clinic-goes-green-in-and-out-of-the-office
Medical office provides lunch to nurses at multiple hospitals during Nurses Week
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Nurses Week in 2020 is certainly different than any of the years before. Those nurses are on the front lines of the local fight to keep the community healthy and safe during the coronavirus pandemic. One Bay area doctor’s office decided to give back to those nurses by gifting free lunches to six local hospitals.
“During these challenging times, our team came to together and asked ourselves what can we do to help out our community,” shared Dr. Brett Reuter of Advanced Medical of Florida. “(We had) the idea of taking care of the real heroes in this situation.”
Dr. Reuter’s office teamed up with like-minded businesses to thank the nurses.
“We chose two local restaurants and we even got our thank you cards at a local printing shop,” he said.
Seminole Subs & Gyros provided sub sandwich platers, Bro’s Pizza and Bar provided pizzas, and the cards came from Century Printing & Design.
“They wanted to join the ‘pay it forward’ movement in their own way,” Reuter commented.
They provided lunches for nurses at Largo Medical Center, Tampa General Hospital, AdventHealth North Pinellas in Tarpon Springs, Bayfront in Pinellas Park, St. Anthony’s Hospital, and Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.
“We are grateful for all front line workers and especially people in healthcare,” Reuter said. “Thank you for everything you do.”
