JOPLIN, MO – Skin Cancer is the most common cancer both in the U.S. and around the world.

One in five Americans will get it by the age of 70.

“There’s, there’s three big factors to help with preventing skin cancer, the first thing and probably the most important is, behavior modification.” Says Dr. Ahmed Badawi, Dermatologist.

That includes avoid peak hours for sun exposure and avoiding indoor tanning beds.

“The the second thing would be wearing sun protective clothing so a broad brimmed hat, Long Sleeve sweatshirts. And then the third factor would be using sunscreen. The sunscreen that I recommend are usually physical blockers, or also called mineral sunscreen they contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.” Says Dr. Badawi.

And when you look at the sun protection factor, or SPF, look for 30 or higher.

You should generally apply sunscreen 15 minutes before sun exposure and reapply every two hours if you’re in the water or sweating heavily.

You can still get a tan or even a burn, but should probably seek help if it’s very painful or isn’t healing appropriately.

“From a skin cancer standpoint in the burn is a bad burn the damage has already been done.” Says Dr. Badawi.

JOPLIN, MO – A diagnosis of cancer is never good news. And when it’s stage four, the outlook generally isn’t good, often prompting doctors and patients to consider any option.

“I would walk around in our garden and my wife realized you know what he loves art.” Says Michael Thompson, Cancer Patient.

And spending time creating art became part of Michael Thompson’s bucket list, a favorite hobby that could have been cut short.

“I had a little cough it just popped out of nowhere, one day. The next thing you know I’m coughing blood up everywhere.” Says Thompson.

That lead to the ER and the diagnosis: stage four cancer with very few options.

“30 to 40 days. Yep, no treatment with treatment maybe 90 days, six months.” Says Thompson.

Thompson decided to go through with treatment. At first, it was a more traditional regimen that got him through a few months.

Then Dr. Matthew Miller suggested an immune checkpoint inhibitor called Opdivo.

“They’re not traditional chemotherapy drugs, they don’t destroy cellular mechanisms within the cancer destroy the DNA, therefore they have less side effects overall.” Says Dr. Matthew Miller, Cancer Institute.

Opdivo isn’t always a good match for a patients where the cancer has a high volume spread.

“You have severe compromise and so that has something to do with how well someone is likely to do in Michael’s case he did have more limited spread.” Says Dr. Miller.

For Thompson, it worked, trading a 30 day prognosis to six years and counting. It’s a success story he credits to Dr. Miller.

“We put all our faith in him and all the people that here, they they have faith. So that’s what we’ve done and here I am.” Says Thompson.

JOPLIN, MO – June is National Men’s Health Month, and cancer treatments for some men is improving with advanced prostate testing called “Decipher.”

“What Decipher is, is a test. And what it’s doing is it is looking at the molecular biology of prostate cancer on a genomic level. And really what that really means is just, it’s another way to tell us how aggressive is a person’s prostate cancer.” Says Dr. Chance Matthiesen, Oncologist.

Helping medical teams customize treatment for the patient. Less serious cases may not indicate treatment while other are more advanced and need aggressive care.
“Decipher can tell us on another level, if that’s really appropriate or not, it can tell us Yes, based on, even at a genomic level we really believe this prostate cancer is not aggressive, and you’re safe to continue watching.” Says Matthiesen.

Or that someone may need aggressive treatment. Decipher gives both doctor and patient more confidence the treatment regimen is appropriate.

“So you’re looking at the DNA of the tumor. So the DNA of the tumor is able to tell us a little bit more on a DNA level, what is its biologic nature. It helps us maybe to identify a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It also tell us what medicines would react better, not necessarily for that. It’s more just about understanding how aggressive, is this specimen, so that we can intensify or de intensify treatments based on that.” Says Matthiesen.

JOPLIN, MO – Issues with your cardiovascular system can have a significant impact on your health.

So you may want to consider testing to identify problems before they happen.

“My cardiologist recommended that he thought there might be a slight blockage in the right carotid.” Says Larry Yarring.

So Larry Yarring is getting checked out, thanks to the Freeman Screen Team.

“It’s definitely worth 15 minutes of your life to you know to not have a stroke or a heart attack or something you could be caught easily like this.” Says Yarring.

Larry is getting a few tests today. A Peripheral Artery Disease Screening, or PAD, is a common option.

“What that tests for is the blood flow that’s through your peripheral arteries in your body. And so what we’re doing is we’re checking the different blood pressures and your extremities and calculating those to see how the blood flow is going to see if there might be any risk of any narrowing of the arteries, which then can cause cardiovascular disease or maybe even a stroke.” Says Shelby Allen, Freeman Prev. & Wellness Coor.

The Screen Team also can check for issues with the carotid artery.
“A Doppler screen which will check the carotid for those for that blood flow.” Says Allen.

It’s a good idea to consult your family doctor to choose the best tests, especially if you have any risk factors like smoking.

“Physicians always recommend to get a baseline and so we recommend this screening for anyone over the age of 50.” Says Allen.

The Freeman Medical Focus was sponsored by Freeman Health System.

JOPLIN, MO – The end of the school year means kids spending more time at home, and while you may focus on how to entertain them, you might also want to double check potentials risks that could come with more time to explore.

“You want to childproof your house and even teenagers need some child proofing. So if you’ve got a young one we want to make sure those cleaners are where they can’t get them,” says Dr. Beth Garrett, Pediatrician.

That includes items like bleach and ammonia but even more common cleaners like laundry detergent.

“Really detergent pods, need to be up and out of reach and if you’ve got a young child, you want to think about, not even buying detergent pods because they look like candy,” says Garrett.

Over the counter and prescription drugs should also be stored where kids can’t get them. “We want to even keep those medications locked up even medications like ibuprofen, Tylenol, ibuprofen, because even the best of teens can have a really awful no good day, and we want to keep those teenagers safe,” explains Garrett.

And be sure guns are stored securely. “We want to keep guns locked up unloaded and separate from ammunition because even the best of children get a little curious,” says Garrett.

NEOSHO, Mo. — Patients in Neosho now have more options closer to home when they need surgery.

Dale Naden, Neosho Patient, said, “Didn’t know I had it until I had my last surgery, he pointed it out to me.”

Now, Neosho patient Dale Naden can get his hernia surgery close to home.

“We’re excited about having people here who can take care of you.”

Naden and others are benefiting from new surgical options offered at Freeman Neosho.

Renee Denton, Freeman Neosho Chief Operating Officer, said, “It’s very exciting for us to be able to have two surgeons, coming to Neosho to take care of our community. Each surgeon has their own unique specialty their own area of expertise.”

Procedures offered will include breast biopsies and dealing with some upper digestive issues.

Dr. David Baker, Freeman Surgeon, said, “We’re going to offer a full wide range of outpatient surgery, that will include gallbladder surgery, skin lesion excision. We’ll also offer screening endoscopy, colonoscopies.”

The surgical team says the goal of offering those options in Neosho is to make it more convenient for patients to take care of their health.

Dr. Alan Buchele, Freeman Surgeon, said, “We’re able to offer a lot of services here that can be done in Neosho so they don’t have to make the drive up to Joplin. And we’re also able to give them their post op care here, which makes that follow up a little easier and more convenient for them.”

JOPLIN, Mo. — You may not think of a phlebotomist as playing a big role in keeping patients healthy. But much of the time, their work drawing blood for lab results is the basis of a crucial diagnosis.

Karen Watts, Freeman Health System, Director Lab Services, said, “So phlebotomist are the people who go around and take blood from patients.”

And that one sample can tell your doctor just about anything.

“We have a fully functional chemistry department that runs the gamut from therapeutic drug levels like making myosin that fight off infections to proponents for people who come in with maybe chest pain, and we have a hematology department that does your CBC so that you know how many red cells you have or how many white cells you have to fight off an infection, we can run pretty much any tests you would need to diagnose and treat a patient.”

It takes 50 phlebotomists to cover normal hospital operations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And then the pandemic took hold, adding a new element to the job.

“Plus COVID was a huge impact on this staff in the main lab to run the specimens. Most of the specimens for COVID came through the drive thru COVID collection site, then they would come to us to process and either run the tests or to send out to a reference lab, depending on what test was ordered.”