Author: electricpulp

The challenges that come with excessive weight touch on every part of a person’s life and it is something many people struggle with every day. One study released in 2021 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that almost 42 percent of Americans were living with obesity. That is nearly half of the population living with a condition that increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. While maintaining a balanced diet and regular physical activity go a long way in helping people manage their weight and reduce the risk of serious diseases, sometimes it isn’t enough. Weight management is a complex issue with many factors to consider. Where diet and exercise work for some, others may need surgical intervention to reach and maintain a healthier weight.

Amy Seales, BSN, RN, CBN, at Monument Health Rapid City Clinic, 5th Street is the nursing supervisor for general surgery and the coordinator for the bariatric program. She has been working with the bariatrics program since 2019, and she herself struggled with weight management. She understands bariatric surgery from both the clinical standpoint and as a patient. At one point she weighed around 249 pounds and said her weight affected her ability to enjoy her life. She said, “I struggled with the activities of daily living, I was so tired all the time. Trying to do exercise and activities when your joints hurt from your own weight, it makes it hard to keep up.” For Amy, even things she enjoyed became a challenge. She continued, “Even with hiking, it was hard for me to find people to go with, or who could go as slowly as I needed. Everything was just harder.”

Amy’s breaking point came when she was on vacation with her husband in Glacier National Park in Montana. She said, “We were riding our motorcycles there and mine broke down. We wanted to go for a quick ride on my husband’s bike while they were fixing it. When I tried to get on the back he struggled to hold it with my added weight and I struggled to get on the bike at all. At that point I felt so embarrassed. I just knew I needed to make a change.”

Amy set up her first consultation when she got back, marking the beginning of her journey. She said, “Some people refer to bariatric surgery as weight loss surgery, but that is only one of the benefits. Things like high cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension and even sleep apnea can all improve after bariatric surgery.” She also noted that bariatric surgery is not the first or only option. It is only one tool of many available to health care providers when it comes to weight management. As with any surgery there is a process to make sure it’s the right option. “It’s about a six-month process beforehand where the doctor looks at a lot of things. They’ll identify problems with things like acid reflux or hernias, they’ll look for anything that needs to be taken care of before the surgery or to determine what kind of surgery is best in each case. You see a dietician and talk about medication before surgery. They even do a psychological evaluation.”

After the surgery, it took Amy time to recover and to adjust to the effects of her surgery. “I had my surgery Feb. 11, 2021 and I feel like that was the first day of the second half of my life. That first year, there were a lot of challenges like relearning how to eat,” Amy remembered. “You’re basically starting with a brand-new stomach almost like when a baby is born. You start out with liquids and see what you tolerate a bit at a time, and you may go back and forth. It all depends on the patient, but that whole time you’re also losing weight.”

“Amy has done really well after her surgery,” said David Fromm, M.D., who performed the procedure. “Honestly, the majority of our patients do very well. I think this is due, in part, to the multidisciplinary team approach. Our patients are thoroughly evaluated and treated prior to undergoing surgery. Bariatric surgery really becomes a life-changing event.”

After the surgery, Amy lost more than 100 pounds and once her body was able to adjust, Amy started to notice a huge difference. Her energy levels were going up and she found herself able to do a lot more. “There is a competition called ‘Tough Mudder’. It’s a 15k — or nine mile — course with around 25 obstacles. I made it my goal to do it,” Amy said. “I tried six months after my surgery, and it was really difficult. I hadn’t built up my stamina yet, but I tried again the following year and the difference was amazing! I was able to finish the race and I am looking forward to doing it again this summer.”

There are still things Amy is getting used to, but she says her life has dramatically changed for the better. “So much about our social lives revolves around eating and drinking, and you try to find new ways to go out with friends. Now I’m able to do so much more,” she continued. “I have so much more energy for things. My husband and I just took a trip to Vegas and If you’ve never been there, you walk a lot. I walked seven or eight miles, no problem, I wasn’t sore or out of breath or anything. It’s like I have a whole new life.” She sees bariatric surgery as one of the best decisions she’s ever made. “Anyone considering bariatric surgery, I would recommend calling and scheduling an appointment. It can be life changing.”

Monument Health offers Weight Management and Bariatrics in Rapid City and Spearfish.

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month, making it the perfect opportunity to thank our speech language pathologists for their hard work helping patients overcome speech, language and swallowing disorders. This is an important aspect of their role, but not the only thing that they do — they also work to prevent, assess, diagnose and treat social and cognitive-communication disorders in both children and adults.

This can mean improving speech and communication for patients with voice and motor speech disorders. It can also mean helping patients who have suffered a stroke, or those with traumatic brain injury (TBI), who may have difficulty eating or swallowing, as well as with problems with thought organization, memory and recall, planning and problem solving.

“SLPs do a lot more than many people realize,” said Rachel Sheffield, a Speech Language Pathologist at Monument Health. “Currently, I would say that there’s an underutilization of speech therapy with trauma patients, especially with assessing for concussion and evaluating and treating cognitive deficits for patients who have a confirmed head injury.”

Rachel recently completed a Brain Injury Specialist certification, which requires 500 hours of direct contact with patients who have experienced brain injury. “This certification was a verification of my training and experience with patients both at Monument Health and in my clinical rotations in Colorado and Utah,” she explained. “I’ve been able to bring my experience and this certification to Monument Health to help develop patient education on concussion. We also developed our own TBI screen that we are starting to use. We’re working to have it implemented as a standardized protocol for trauma patients.”

Rachel is currently the only speech language pathologist at Monument Health with the Brain Injury Specialist certification. This is in addition to the training that all SLP’s must complete in the state of South Dakota, which requires a qualifying master’s degree, passing the national SLP exam and completing post-graduate professional experience in the form of a clinical fellowship year.

That thorough education and training provides SLPs the skills and experience to treat patients with a wide range of disorders and more — whether they’re helping to improve speech, hearing and comprehension, or helping assess, evaluate and treat traumatic brain injuries.

“Our goal is to expand our services so that, in addition to our roles in improving communication and dysphagia, we are being included more frequently with the trauma population to assess for cognitive deficits. We want to ensure that these patients are safe to go home, and that they have the information and resources for post head injury recovery.”

Jaden Guthmiller is a student-athlete at Spearfish High School who has spent the last couple of years kicking up dust on the track. He’s a five time state medalist who has set multiple meet and school records. He’s also the all time South Dakota 100 Meter Dash record holder with a time of 10.45. Jaden is a talented young man, but that isn’t the key to his success. What has made him successful? Hard work.

“Jaden has been a mainstay in my weight room since I took the position. Not only has he worked immensely hard but he’s an outstanding young man,” said Eric Santure, Performance Enhancement Specialist and Director of Strength and Conditioning at Spearfish High School. “I spent a lot of time working with him. We did some individualized programming and sometimes he was the only track athlete in the room while other teams were training. We are seeing it pay off this season.”

Not only has Jaden set records on the track, he’s also recently signed with the University of South Dakota, and will be joining their track team after he graduates. He’s excited for the opportunity to take his running to the next level, but he’s also got more long-term plans. He said, “I’d like to study something in either the medical field or exercise science. I just want to be like Coach Santure. Maybe become a strength and conditioning coach and help kids get back to doing what they love and make them stronger in what they do.”

Josh Guthmiller, Jaden’s father is proud of his son, and grateful for the strength and conditioning coaching that Monument Health has made available in Spearfish. “We’re really blessed to be in a community the size of Spearfish and have the opportunities that our kids have had, especially in the weight room, training with Monument Health trainers,” he said. “I don’t think there is a community on the planet as lucky as ours to have those trainers working with our kids since they were little. We’ve really encouraged them to be dedicated to it, and their hard work shows.”

“He has a steadfast work ethic and is a joy to coach as he asks great questions, always has a joke, isn’t afraid of a challenge and has a great level of self-efficacy,” Eric added. “He’s a great athlete and a fantastic young man.”

Jaden is also quick to point out that Eric isn’t just there for him — the entire team and school benefit from his coaching. “We receive so much help from Coach Santure, as a group and a team, not just me. We go in and talk to him and he explains what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, which really motivates us in the gym. He pushes us to work hard and achieve our goals.”

In addition to Eric at Spearfish High School, Monument Health has strength and conditioning coaches at Black Hills State University, Chadron State College and South Dakota Mines, helping students perform to the best of their abilities. Jaden’s success on the track illustrates the difference that performance coaches, like Eric, can have in the development of young athletes.