Struggling to get a good night’s sleep with your CPAP? Learn how Inspire might be able to help during an educational community seminar presented by Dr. Amy Dearking on Wednesday, June 29th at 6:00 p.m.
Inspire is the only FDA-approved obstructive sleep apnea treatment that works inside your body to treat the root cause of sleep apnea with just the click of a button. No mask, no hose, just sleep.
Learn more at our educational event
Presented by: Dr. Amy Dearking St. Cloud Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic Location: St. Cloud Surgical Center – Entrance A
If any doctor at St. Cloud Surgical Center knows a thing or two about sports injuries, it’s Podiatrist Dr. Ashton Nelsen.
As a former Division II track star at Minnesota State University Mankato, Dr. Nelsen has had her fair share of time on the sideline due to injuries. Her experiences as a student-athlete and love for sports medicine are what led her to a career in Podiatry. As a podiatrist, Dr. Nelsen focuses on everything related to foot and ankle health, including hammertoe corrections, bunion removal, and major ankle surgeries like lateral ligament reconstruction due to ankle sprains.
Ankle Sprains are the most common type of athletic injury, with research suggesting they account for 15-30% of all sports injuries. And while it is common among athletes, ankle sprains can happen during everyday activities too! With those stats, it’s probably safe to say you’ve experienced an ankle sprain or know someone who has, but what exactly happens when you sprain your ankle?
While it may not look like much, the inner workings of your foot and ankle are very complex. Each foot comprises 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments that work together to provide support, balance, and mobility. When talking about ankle sprains, we focus on the ligaments that help stabilize joints and prevent excessive movement. An ankle sprain can occur when this stabilization is disrupted through an unusual amount of force caused by the twist of your foot, roll of the ankle, or any other movement beyond typical motions.
You may have had a Sprained Ankle if you’ve experienced any of the following:
Inability to weight bear on your ankle
Ankle pain, which can be mild to severe
Decreased range of motion at the ankle joint
Swelling and inflammation
Bruising
A popping sound during a suspected ankle injury
Instability of your ankle in any way (most common with severe sprains)
For many of Doctor Nelsen’s patients, traditional recovery methods like physical therapy, bracing, or something as simple as the R.I.C.E technique will help resolve an ankle sprain. However, one out of every five patients that walk through her door has a severe sprain that can’t be relieved by rest and ice. These types of severe ankle sprains typically result in chronic ankle instability, leading to your ankle going out from under you at any moment, thus causing more damage to the ligaments.
If you find yourself reading this and think you may have chronic instability, all hope is not lost! While rest and relaxation won’t help, a simple surgery using bracing internally may be the ticket to a pain-free way of living. This bracing is a surgical procedure used to reconstruct and augment the body’s own ankle ligament. This procedure was designed to speed up recovery, allow for an immediate range of motion, and result in an ankle that is 3x stronger than your body’s own ligament!
“I always tell patients after this procedure you are more likely to break your ankle than damage the repair site because it is that much stronger!” – Ashton Nelsen, DPM
If you suffer from chronic ankle instability, bracing internally might be the best recommendation for you, especially if you are an athlete. With an average 13-week recovery time compared to 17 weeks from the traditional lateral ankle ligament repair, internally bracing can have you back on the track, mat, rink, or court faster!
Learn more about chronic ankle instability and ligament bracing from Dr. Nelsen in the video below.
For many patients, their first experience at a freestanding surgery center is at our facility. In these cases, it is our job is to provide them with the knowledge to confidently choose a surgical center over a traditional hospital-based outpatient department. If you are thinking about coming to St. Cloud Surgical Center for your next procedure, continue reading. We think you’ll find this information very helpful!
What is an Ambulatory Surgical Center?
By definition, Ambulatory Surgical Centers are modern-day healthcare facilities that have a primary focus on providing same-day surgical care. In the last 30 years, the roles and overall number of ASCs in the nation have increased dramatically. Ambulatory Surgical Centers have genuinely transformed the outpatient experience by providing a convenient alternative to traditional hospital-based outpatient practices. Not to mention, they have done so with a strong track record of quality care and positive patient outcomes!
What is the difference between an Ambulatory Surgical Center and Hospital?
Many of the workflows and procedures performed at both institutions will be the same. There will, of course, be some differences, but we both share a common goal of providing the highest quality of care. Many of the differences between the two are seen in the background operations.
Traditionally, a hospital-based outpatient department, or HOPD, is owned and attached to a hospital, whereas an ASC is a standalone practice with no hospital affiliation. This separation makes the regulations for ASCs and HOPDs different. Most of the time, patients see these differences reflected in the cost.
What is the cost of going to an Ambulatory Surgical Center?
Choosing anAmbulatory Surgical Center for your procedure will be more cost-effective than visiting a traditional hospital setting. The same procedure performed at both is reported to cost Medicare 47% less at an ASC than an HOPD. That is a significant difference and will show in your pocketbook!
NOTE: The cost of a procedure will vary from person to person, depending on current medical coverage.
What are the advantages of an Ambulatory Surgical Center?
ASCs have been shown to have greater efficiency with no differences or higher complication rates when compared to the traditional hospital setting. At centers like ours, we have a narrow scope allowing for more specialized care. Additionally, since centers are not owned by a hospital but rather providers, there is a greater sense of autonomy and alignment in physicians and center goals. Patient above profit is the primary focus at an ASC.
What surgeries can I have done at St. Cloud Surgical Center?
At St. Cloud Surgical Center, we offer a variety of outpatient procedures and specialties, including:
Why do patients love the St. Cloud Surgical Center?
It is our experience that patients find the highly specialized care and advanced technology offered at our facility results in a higher satisfaction rate. Here are some other reasons patients choose the St. Cloud Surgical Center:
Easy Parking
Friendly Faces
Newly Remodeled OR’s
Knowledgeable Physicians
Quality care is provided every step of the way!
At the end of the day, no matter where you go, the goal of your selected facility should be to provide quality care for patients, serve physicians, and improve healthcare in America. This is exactly what we strive to do at St. Cloud Surgical Center. If you are considering a procedure at our facility, please contact us for more information.
Eye concerns that lead to surgery can be very intimidating to think about for most people. For a good reason too! The eye is your camera to the world. Through this lens, you can see the love in your spouse’s eyes, enjoy the gummy smile on your grandbabies’ faces, and bear witness to the most beautiful cotton candy sunsets. Without the sense of sight, your world would look a lot different. While most eye concerns come with age, it’s important for everyone, young and old, to take care of their vision to not miss out on these magical moments of life.
To have you seeing clearly in the new year, we sat down with Dr. Mitchell Gossman, an Ophthalmologist at St. Cloud Surgical Center, to talk more about the most common eye condition in the nation, Cataracts. Dr. Gossman sub-specializes in Cataract Surgery and has received specialized training in neuro-ophthalmology from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Having worked at St. Cloud Surgical Center since early 2002, he is highly revered by his peers and patients as an expert in the field.
THE TRUTH ABOUT CATARACTS
As unfortunate as it is to hear, age is the most common reason for vision loss. Over time, everything in your body begins to wear out, knees, hips, and yes, your eyes. They are not an exception to the rule! By far, one of the most common surgeries done in the nation is cataract surgery. We often hear patients who need cataract surgery say, “It runs in my family.” While this isn’t wrong, it’s also not strictly caused by genetics. It “runs in your family” because cataracts account for 51% of blindness worldwide. The truth of the matter is cataracts are completely age-related.
SIGNS YOU MIGHT NEED CATARACT SURGERY:
You are experiencing cloudier vision.
You have developed a glare when looking at headlights.
Streaks begin to come out of headlights and road signs.
You experience sudden trouble reading or looking at screens.
You have difficulty doing your job or basic tasks.
You are over the age of 60.
Cataracts can happen on a spectrum. You can have very aggressive-looking cataracts with minimal symptoms. Or, you can have mild cataracts that cause a lot of symptoms. However, there is no way to predict by looking at someone when the patient will want surgery.
SEVEN STEPS TO CATARACT SURGERY AT ST. CLOUD SURGICAL CENTER
First, you need to determine if you’re a good candidate for cataract surgery. Start by making an appointment with your optometrist or get a referral to be seen by an ophthalmologist, like Dr. Gossman, who would perform your surgery.
If your provider determines that surgery is the best course of action, you have two choices. Get the surgery or live with gradually increasing vision loss.
If you move forward with surgery, you will need to take measurements to determine the lens implant power required to correct the issue.
After measurements, you will schedule your surgery date at St. Cloud Surgical Center! Surgery is done one eye at a time, with a few weeks of check-ups in between.
Surgery day! From pre-op to post-op, the whole process will take about two hours. We will begin with sedation (general anesthesia), so there is no pain whatsoever. The surgery itself takes 10 to 15 minutes. Your surgeon will remove the eye’s cloudy lens that sits right behind the pupil, and an artificial, clear lens will take its place.
Once discharged, you will have a list of things you can and cannot do. You’ll come back the next day, and again one week after, for a check-up. If things look good, we’ll move on to the next eye.
Once both eyes are corrected, you can begin to see clearly again!
For Dr. Gossman, this is the best part of his job. The WOW factor that occurs post-surgery is what makes his job worth doing. In 99% of his cases, patients only regret is not opting for surgery sooner. With the advancements of cataract surgery, it is a safe, comfortable, and painless experience. There is no reason to be part of the population struggling to see. Schedule your cataract surgery at St. Cloud Surgical Center today and start seeing 20/20 again!
