What's New
April Vein Screening
On April 9,10,&13, Vein Specialists of the South hosted their second FREE Varicose Vein Screening of 2012. They held the free event at their historic office building on Third St in downtown Macon, GA. Jill Ponder from Sigvaris, came to help promote the importance of wearing compression hose. She has been a compression hose rep for Sigvaris for many years and is always warmly welcomed during our events. Over all, the practice serviced 95 people in a Free Varicose Vein Screening. Thank you for all who helped with the event!
Mercer Medical Grand Rounds
On Jan. 11, 2012, Dr. Harper had the opportunity to speak to the Mercer University School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine residents for their January Grand Rounds. He also spoke to Mercer's Family Medicine residents on March 2, 2012. His topic for both events was the Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism: DVT "deep vein thrombosis" and PE "pulmonary embolism". Between 350,000 - 600,000 suffer from VTE in the US each year and more than 100,000 die from a PE yearly. That is one Amercian every 5 minutes! Many of these are preventable.
2011 ACP Conference
Dr Harper, Terri and elizabeth Hall, RN attended the 25 th annual American College of Phlebology conference in Los Angelos. Dr Harper participated in various committees, Terri spoke on a sclerotherapy expert panel and Elizabeth did a presentation on skin changes in venous disease.
VSS Sponsors the Otis Redding Tribute
On Friday, September 9, the city of Macon came to life with laughter, food, and good music! The City of Macon and the County of Bibb officially declared Sept 9 as "Otis Redding Day." After a fun filled Friday evening, the Otis Redding Tribute continued into Saturday. The Macon City Auditorium filled with people Saturday evening to enjoy an "Evening of Respect" tribute concert, dinner, and celebration honoring the life and legacy of the "King of Soul." Vein Specialists of the South partnered with several other reputable Macon businesses to make this tribute a true success!
Vein Specialists of the South and Dr. Ken Harper speak to local Podiatric Medicine Group
Macon, Georgia - Vein Specialists of the South, Medical Director Dr. Kenneth E. Harper, spoke to local Podiatrists on the topic, 'OpenYour Eyes to Vein Disease' on February 28th. Podiatrists attending the lecture received CME credits through the state association of podiatrist GPMA.
The topic of emphasis was 'Phlebology' the diagnosis and treatment of venous disease including varicose veins, spider veins, leg swelling, DVT and PE. Despite its prevelence, venous disease remains an under diagnosed and under treated condition.
Podiatrists specialize in treating patients with ankle and foot complaints. Since vein disease is also common in many podiatric cases, many podiatric patients also suffer from venous disease which affects their quality of life and leg health. This underlying venous disease, left untreated, may negatively impact the outcome of podiatric interventions.
A better understanding of the principles of diagnosis and treatment of varicose veins and spider veins these podiatrist to determine which patients may benefit from phlebology evaluation and care.
Learning Objectives
· Recognize the incidence, signs and symptoms of venous disease.
· Identify patients with signs and symptoms of venous disease.
· Institute best practices for conservative care of patients with venous disease.
· Implement appropriate referral protocols for patients who venous disease.
· Understand the treatment options available and the results your patient should expect from advanced vein care.
Vein Specialists Of The South Receives Accreditation from Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL)
Macon, Georgia - Vein Specialists Of The South, the offices of Dr. Kenneth E. Harper, has attained recognition from the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL) for its commitment to providing a high level of patient care and quality testing for the diagnosis of vascular disease. The facility received accreditation by The Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL).
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, costing society over 83.7 billion dollars each year in health services, medications and lost work time due to disability. Stroke, a disorder of the blood supply to the brain, is the third leading cause of death and disability in this country, with 500,000 new strokes occurring annually.
One American dies every 32 seconds of cardiovascular disease, disorders of the heart and blood vessels. Each year, 2 million people in the United States Alone develop deep vein thrombosis - blood clots in the veins. This affliction becomes life threatening for 500,000 of those people when the blood clot breaks loose and travels to the lungs.
Early detection of these life-threatening vascular diseases is possible through the use of noninvasive testing techniques performed within vascular laboratories.
Vein Specialists of the South is one of a growing number of vascular laboratories in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico to meet or exceed the ICAVL standards for noninvasive vascular testing. During the accreditation process, every aspect of the laboratory's daily operations and its impact on the quality of health care provided to patients is assessed and reviewed. While completing the application, laboratories are required to identify and correct potential problems, revising protocols and validating quality assurance programs.
Participation in the accreditation process demonstrates the laboratory's attention to a high level of patient care and quality testing. ICAVL accreditation is valid for a period of three years.
The ICAVL is a non-profit organization established with the support of eleven medical societies including physicians, technologists and sonographers that represent medical specialties including cardiology, neurology, radiology, vascular medicine, vascular surgery, neurosurgery, internal medicine and biology.
Vein Specialists of the South, LLC was pleased to host Dr. B.B. Lee in a visit to Macon on September 29-October 1. Dr. Lee professor of surgery at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, is a vascular and transplant surgeon who is the world leader in the treatment of vascular malformations.
Dr. Lee lectured at Grand Rounds for the surgical residents at Mercer University School of Medicine speaking on Lymphedema and later spoke to the Biomedical and Pre-med students at Mercer university on the hemodynamics of venous and lymphatic flow.
On Thursday afternoon Dr. Lee saw patients in the VSS, LLC office with Dr. Harper. He provided consultation with Dr. Harper on patients who have venous malformations. Both the patients and Dr. Harper were appreciative of his expertise.
Vein Specialists of the South, LLC staff including Dr. Harper and Terri Harper, RN, BSN attended American Academy of Cosmetic Sugery Annual meeting in Orlando, FL. The annual scientific meeting of the AACS serves as an educational resource for physicians who are committed to continuing education in the field of non-surgical and surgical anti-aging procedures.
Vein Specialists of the South, LLC 'goes live' with new EMR. January 2010 will be remember for the introduction of our new EMR (Electronic Medical Records). Dr. Harper has been committed to EMR for over 10 years. We are proud to introduce Centricity as our new EMR and look forward to it's expanded capabilities. Our patients will enjoy the capability of completing their meidcal history and even paying their bill on-line. With the secured web portal we can remind our patients of their next appointment and email our medical staff with questions.
VSS, LLC offers cosmetic sclerotherpy class. March 12 is the date for our next Cosmetic Sclerotherapy course. Physicians, physician extenders and RN's give this one day on-site course two thumbs up! Led by Terri Harper, RN, BSN this course includes patient treatments.