CCMSD offering second round of annual blood draws

Those who diligently schedule their blood draw each spring may be interested to know that a second annual opportunity has been made available in the fall. Crook County Medical Services (CCMSD) will now be offering health panels twice per year as it develops a program to support the community's wellness.

Traditionally, blood drawings have been scheduled annually and the community has been invited to attend the health fair a couple of weeks later to pick up the results. "We're changing that a little bit because we're going to separate the blood draws from the health fair in some ways," says CEO Nathan Hough.

All results will now be sent by mail, says Kim Jones, Lab Tech. "They are going to be mailed out for this draw and also next year before the health fair."

The reason that the results of the October draw will be mailed, she explains, is that, "we don't really have a central location for anyone to pick them up." To standardize the process and prevent confusion, the same process will be followed for the spring drawing.

Mailing the results, says Hough, also ensures that nobody is left unable to pick up their results because they are indisposed or out of town. One thing that will not change, of course, is that the results can be taken to your healthcare provider for interpretation and discussion.

The second annual drawing is partly for the convenience of the community, Hough says, and partly because CCMSD is "thinking ahead" to when its wellness program is ready for launch. At this time, he says, the district is in the early stages of finding the best ways to support wellness in this specific community.

"We are just experimenting with this," Hough says. "An organization I was with before was very focused on wellness, so they worked with their employees to see what would impact the health of their employees. As they developed that, they expanded it into different areas of the community."

CCMSD is testing the waters with internal "biometric testing". This involves recording lab results, weight, measurements, lifestyle factors and other health indicators and allocating points accordingly, creating a "scorecard" for an individual person.

For example, a person might lose points if they smoke but gain if they have a good cholesterol level and a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI). The scorecard is recreated six months later to gauge where and by how much the person's wellness has improved.

"It's to recognize things that a person may not look to have addressed until they become a problem, so we can recognize some things they might be susceptible to and get them on the right track before it becomes life-threatening or they have to change their life," he says.

Diabetes is a good example, Hough explains. "It can be recognized fairly early and there can be lifestyle changes a person makes that would really battle some of the stuff that would happen."

Also, he adds, "It's an opportunity for people to see if the changes they are making are having the effect that they should." If a potential problem is identified during a blood draw, the person can make lifestyle changes and come back six months later to see how successful they have been.

The wellness program is a long term plan that will be in development for a while, he continues, but, "That's our intent in developing this, using our staff as a smaller control group that's a pretty good mix of the community on what we can do to grow community wellness."

Because it's early days, the specific biometrics that would be taken if a member of the community opted into the program have yet to be determined, because there's a lot of refining left to do to make it fit perfectly with the needs of Crook County's people.

"It's not a cookie cutter approach, you have to look at what's going on with a person and what lifestyle changes need to or should take place," Hough says.

Hough would be interested to hear feedback and ideas as to how exactly the district could support your wellness. The end goal is to determine what services and advice could be offered to individuals and through businesses and organizations.

"The basis of it is: what can we do to help our community that's convenient and easy and how can we grow that and expand it," he says.

The blood draws are scheduled from 7 to 9 a.m. on October 22 at Hulett Senior Center, on October 24 at Moorcroft Clinic and on October 26 at the School District Administration Building gym. As well as the regular blood chemistry panel, options such as a thyroid function panel, a vitamin D panel and an anemia profile will be on offer.

Flu shots will also be available during the drawings, as well as a medication disposal and donation collection for all Rx and OTC meds, vitamins, patches, creams and pet medications.