January 11, 2007

Mercy Offers Business Health Clients Cholesterol Screening Results in Minutes

Kira Oregon holds the Cholestech device that allows Mercy to offer employees of its client companies the results of their cholesterol and blood glucose screening within five minutes - not several days.

Mercy Business Health Services now makes use of advanced medical technology to offer employees of its client companies the results of their cholesterol and blood glucose screening within five minutes – not several days.

A service of Mercy Medical Center—Sioux City, Mercy Business Health Services offers an array of services available to business and industry designed to help lower the cost of health care. Working collaboratively, Mercy helps Siouxland employers identify, address and eliminate health issues before they become costly health claims. The health, wellness and safety of client company’s staff members always have top priority.

Mercy’s on-site occupational health nurses provide companies numerous services and benefits including short-term nursing care, first aid programs, personal health and safety education, and immunization clinics. They also offer health and wellness screenings and physicals – including cholesterol screenings.

On-site cholesterol screening traditionally involved drawing blood, sending it to a lab, and waiting days for the results.

Now, however, Mercy Business Health Services staff members follow a simple fingerstick with almost immediate, face-to-face feedback about the employee’s lipid profile and glucose level – all in a single face-to-face meeting at the workplace.

“We see this as an efficient, effective way of identifying those people who are most at risk for heart disease,” said Kira Oregon, MS, CEES, a certified wellness coach and coordinator of Worksite Health Promotion for Mercy Business Health Services. “Because more people today understand the importance of knowing their cholesterol levels, testing is in greater demand than it was a decade ago.”

“Using contemporary technology, we not only minimize the time spent waiting for results, but we can also follow up with the employee during the same workplace visit if we see something in the test results that is outside normal ranges. It is definitely an improvement in services,” Oregon added.

Several recent medical studies have illustrated the advantages of such “on the spot” testing and counseling. The immediacy of test results may foster improved patient understanding, researchers have noted. Patients also seem to be more inclined to sense the urgency of taking action to work with their healthcare providers to remedy any underlying problems detected.

The availability of immediate, on-site cholesterol testing is just the latest addition to Mercy Business Health Services’ expansive array of worksite wellness services.

“We strive to offer the best possible services we can,” said Lana Bleil, manager of Mercy Business Health Services. “As we collaborate with companies to develop a comprehensive results-oriented program that best meets their employees' needs, we always look to enhance and expand services in any way we can.”

“The availability of on-site cholesterol screening that yields immediate results is just an example of one such enhancement,” Bleil added.

In addition to on-site occupational health nursing and worksite wellness, Mercy Business Health Services also offers worker injury evaluation and treatment, rehabilitation services, loss prevention, and cost containment services. For more information, call (712) 274-4250 or 1-800-711-3923.