News

Tel-Assurance program keeps hospitalizations down

Allen Martin begins every day with a telephone call and six questions.

It’s the sixth question that he dreads the most: What was your morning weight?

"The scale is my worst nightmare," Martin said. "With this water deal, you’re always fluctuating."

Martin suffers from heart failure, and a common symptom of heart failure is water retention. A few extra pounds on the scale can be a sign of too much water in his body, and that often foreshadows more serious health complications.
"Every time my weight jumps a pound or two, I get Jo on the phone," Martin said.

He means Jo Rowland, the lead nurse for Billings Clinic’s heart failure disease management program.

Martin’s answers to those six daily questions, which he records by pressing buttons on his home telephone, pop up on Rowland’s computer screen. If Rowland notices something out of the ordinary, she calls him.

Depending on what else Martin tells her, Rowland might adjust his medication or schedule an appointment for him with his physician, Dr. Lynn Otto.

What both she and Martin are trying to do is keep Martin out of the hospital.

By DIANE COCHRAN
Of The Gazette Staff

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/07/17/news/local/35-telassurance.txt

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