New specialty clinics now accepting patients!

The Leduc Beaumont Devon Primary Care Network is proud to announce the launch of two, locally offered and medically supervised specialty clinics to our PCN patients.

Leduc Obesity Clinic

The Leduc Obesity Clinic offers patients who are willing to or already making healthy lifestyle changes a new treatment pathway for obesity management.

Screening assessments will be done to determine if this clinic is right for you.

Patients must be able to commit to 1 year of involvement with the interdisciplinary team.  This will involve participating every two weeks in group medical appointments/ classes as well as regular meetings with team members and regular weights and measurements.

Evidence based treatment plans for obesity have been developed by the interdisciplinary team.  This may include but not limited to addressing exercise, depression, diet, medication adjustments, sleep or referral to specialists as needed, etc. 

The Leduc Obesity Clinic – Weight Support Team includes a LBD PCN member Physician, Registered Nurse, Mental Health Professional, Registered Pharmacist, Registered Dietitian, Exercise Specialist and an Administrative Assistant.

Leduc Cardiac Rehabilitation Program

In response to the growing need to support cardiac patients in a local setting and in partnership with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Program, the Leduc Beaumont Devon Primary Care Network (LBD PCN) is also proud to announce the introduction of the Leduc Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. 

This program will operate out of the LBD PCN office and the Leduc Recreation Centre (LRC). The program includes support from a LBD PCN member physician and the LBD PCN Exercise Specialist. Patients will also have access to the LBD PCN's Registered Dietitian. This program will help reduce fears about physical activity and may improve quality of life.

If you have experienced a recent cardiac event or procedure and think you would benefit from supervised exercise and heart health education, ask your LBD PCN family physician for a referral to the Leduc Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. 

To access the Leduc Obesity Clinic or the Leduc Cardiac Rehabilitation Program, please ask your LBD PCN family physician for a referral.

Craving Change™ - February workshop

Craving Change™ 

A How-to Workshop for changing your relationship with food.

Have you ever wondered?

•  "Why do I have absolutely no will power with food?"
•  "Why do I eat when I'm upset?"
•  "I know what I'm supposed to be eating, but why can't I just do it?"

By attending this workshop, you will be able to:

• Understand why you eat the way you do.
• Change your thinking; change your eating.
• Comfort yourself without food.

Program Eligibility: 18 years and older
Class duration: 2.5 hours, once per week for 3 weeks

When: February 7th, 14th and 21st

Location: Primary Care Network office - Leduc

Cost: $10 (course materials and workbook)

For program information and registration, please contact us at the Leduc Beaumont Devon Primary Care Network.

780-986-6624.

Same-day, online appointment bookings for both Leduc After-Hours Clinic and Beaumont After-Hours Clinic is now available!

Leduc After-Hours Clinic and Beaumont After-Hours Clinic patients are now able to book an appointment online! 

For the Leduc After-Hours Clinic, click the orange button in the right hand column of the website that says "book an appointment." For the Beaumont After-Hours Clinic, click the green button that says "book and appointment." Those buttons will take you to our online scheduler where you can book same-day appointments for each after-hours clinic.

Appointments will be made available starting at 2:00pm each day that the after-hours clinic is open. To book an appointment, select an available time slot on the scheduler for that evening's clinic. No personal or identifying information will be collected. Please arrive 10 minutes prior to your appointment and remember to bring your Alberta Health Care card with you. When you arrive at the clinic, proceed to the counter to check in with our receptionist.

A select number of appointment spaces will still be available for walk-in appointments.

Leduc After Hour Clinic hours and location:

Monday – Thursday
6:00pm – 9:30pm

#301, 4710 – 50th Street

JHF Professional Centre

Located north of Leduc Cinema, entrance on the north side of the building.

Beaumont After-Hours Clinic Hours and location:

Monday – Thursday
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Stewart & Associates

5001A - 50 Avenue

The Leduc and Beaumont After-Hours Clinics are for basic medical services only. For more information on the Leduc and Beaumont After-Hours Clinics,please click here.

LBD PCN FREE Smoking Cessation Program

It’s time to quit!

The S.M.I.L.E. pharmacist is offering FREE Smoking Cessation assistance.

The program is a comprehensive, individualized one-on-one session(s) with the pharmacist at our PCN office.

The session will address:

 why quitting is hard
 pros and cons of smoking
 medication options
 how to identify triggers
 how to handle stress
 how to prevent weight gain

The session will also:

 help you develop a Quit Plan to enhance success
 give you ongoing support as needed, so you stay quit.

“Quitting smoking is easy, I’ve done it hundreds of times.”
                                                                                                            - Mark Twain

For more information and to receive your FREE Quit Kit, contact Nandini Desai at 780-986-6624

Same-day, online appointment bookings available for After-Hours Clinics

Leduc After-Hours Clinic patients are now able to book an appointment online! Click the orange button in the right hand column of the website that says "book an appointment". That button will take you to our online scheduler where you can book same-day appointments for the after-hours clinic.

Appointments will be made available starting at 2:00 pm each day that the after-hours clinic is open. To book an appointment, select an available time slot on the scheduler for that evening's clinic. No personal or identifying information will be collected. Please arrive 10 minutes prior to your appointment and remember to bring your Alberta Health Care card with you. When you arrive at the clinic, proceed to the counter to check in with our receptionist.

A select number of appointment spaces will still be available for walk-in appointments.

Leduc After-Hours Clinic location:

#301, 4710 – 50th Street
JHF Professional Centre
Located north of Leduc Cinema, entrance on the north side of the building.

Leduc After Hour Clinic hours are:
Monday – Thursday
6:00pm – 9:30pm

The Leduc After-Hours Clinics is for basic medical services only. For more information on the Leduc After-Hours Clinic, please click here.

~COMING SOON!~

Stewart & Associates will soon be offering same-day, online bookings at the Beaumont After-Hours Clinic. 

Beginning January 28th, 2012, we will add a separate button on our website to book for the Beaumont After-Hours Clinic.

Appointments will be made available starting at 2:00 pm each day that the after-hours clinic is open. To book an appointment, select an available time slot on the scheduler for that evening's clinic. No personal or identifying information will be collected. Please arrive 10 minutes prior to your appointment and remember to bring your Alberta Health Care card with you. When you arrive at the clinic, proceed to the counter to check in with our receptionist.

Beaumont After-Hours Clinic Hours:

Monday – Thursday
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Stewart & Associates
5001A - 50 Avenue

Making SMART goals

Developing goals is key to success. SMART goals clarify exactly what is expected and tells how to measure success.

How do we make SMART goals? What are SMART goals?

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Specific

We have a much greater chance of accomplishing a goal if it is specific rather than general. A specific goal should answer the five W’s and the H:

Who is involved?
What do I want to accomplish?
When do I want to accomplish this goal by? Are there other timeframes involved?
Where - Identify a location.
Why do I want to accomplish this goal?
How do I accomplish this goal?

For example:

A general goal would be, “I want to be healthier.”
A specific goal would be, “I will go for a walk each evening after supper for 15 minutes, 3 times per week.”

Measurable 

Can your goal be measured? When your progress can be measured, it is easier to stay on track and be successful with your goals. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……

How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Keep track of your progress on your calendar. Schedule the event in your calendar and plan your day around the event. Keep track of your progress on your calendar so you can clearly see if you are on track.

For example:

“I will walk around the neighbourhood 3 times per week.”

Attainable

You must have the means, knowledge and ability to actually achieve your goals. Identify the goals that are important to you and begin to figure out how you are going to meet these goals. Attainable goals motivate you to move forward to accomplish them. If you set unrealistic, impossible goals, you won’t even try or if you do try to and fail, you will be less motivated to set goals in the future.

Realistic 

To be realistic, a goal must be something within your ability to accomplish. Do you have the means, skill, ability and desire to accomplish this goal?  A goal should push your abilities but not break them. Is it realistic to set a goal of “I will cut out all sugar, dairy and carbs from my diet”? Not more the vast majority of us. A realistic goal would be, “I will eat fruit for my afternoon snack instead of sweets.”

Timely 

A goal should be set with a time frame or end date. Without a timeframe, it is easy to get off track. If you don’t see the end date coming, you are less likely to work harder towards completing the goal.  If you want to quit smoking, set a day to have met this goal. Saying “I want to quit smoking” does not give you a deadline to work towards and it is easy to push that goal aside. If you say, “I want to quit smoking before my high school reunion on June 10, 2013” you have not only a target item but a target date set.

Remember that it is okay to reevaluate your goals and set new timelines rather than give up the goal completely! You can also break your goals down into smaller goals and work towards a bigger accomplishment. For example, if your goal is to engage in physical activity everyday but you have been living a sedentary, this is not a very realistic goal. That’s not to say you can’t get there eventually, but a more realistic goal would be to go to the gym 1-2 days a week for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, reevaluate  Did you go to the gym 1-2 days each week? Yes? Great! Now your next goal could be to go to the gym 3-4 days a week for an additional 6 weeks.

Some additional thoughts:

• You may have a goal in mind of “losing 1-2 pounds a week”.  This is not an action based goal but rather an outcome.
• Weight loss is actually an outcome or end result that comes from other behaviours.
• Goals need to be focused on an action, something that we can do and observe.
• Weight loss is a result of several factors that we don’t directly control.  If we focus on a number on the scale we can be disappointed when it doesn't happen even though we are still doing everything we intended to, this can result in feelings of disappointment, frustration, and even anger making it difficult to stick with your plan
• Consider creating a goal around behaviors that ultimately may contribute to weight management such as physical activity (I will add an extra 500 steps daily, on my pedometer) or healthy nutrition (I will work toward eating breakfast every day).
• Weight loss then becomes an long-term result of following through on goals, in addition to the many other benefits that come with a healthy lifestyle however is not the original focus of the goal
• Remember to review and re-evaluate as needed (consider monthly goal reviews) – if something is not work try to find out why and make a change.

New Year's Resolutions - be specific!

When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, try to keep in mind that making those plans and goals as specific as possible will help with following through.  So many of us come up with general wants and wishes such as:

I want to lose weight

I wish to be more active

I want to eat better

It is a common mistake to make the resolutions too big and too much to change at one time:

I am going to go to the gym every day

I am going to start eating healthier

These goals are too broad and too much to change all at once.  Gyms and fitness centres are jam packed with people in January and then look like a deserted wasteland by March.  When it comes to eating healthier, we tend to go with the all or nothing mindset so one setback can often send everything off the rails.   Sound familiar? 

Instead of setting such lofty general goals that are setting us up for failure, think about making your goals specific. This will give you a better chance of success and sustainability. A good example is:

I will go for a walk on my lunch hour for 15 minutes three days per week. 

In the winter months, dress properly for walking outdoors. Walk in the stairwells or hallways if the weather does not permit, that is better than nothing! When meeting a friend at the mall, plan to walk for 15 minutes at a brisk pace before you do your shopping.  There are multiple ways to get those 15 minutes in, even in our harsh Canadian winters.

Another specific goal is to join an exercise class one or two days a week. Signing up for a registered class for a pre-determined number of weeks is often a good way to stay motivated.  Knowing there is an end date and having paid for the class upfront can is often enough motivation to keep you going.  Schedule your day around this class and plan ahead.

Almost all of us want to be healthier, be more active and lose weight but those are all end results of what may come from making lifestyle changes with setting more specific goals and sticking with those changes.  

Corinne Cutler is the Exercise Specialist at the LBD PCN.  

Craving Change™

 A How-to Workshop for changing your relationship with food.
Have you ever wondered?
 

 "Why do I have absolutely no will power with food?"

 "Why do I eat when I'm upset?"

 "I know what I'm supposed to be eating, but why can't I just do it?"

By attending this workshop, you will be able to:

• Understand why you eat the way you do
• Change your thinking; change your eating
• Comfort yourself without food

Program Eligibility: 18 years and older
Class duration: 2.5 hours, once per week for 3 weeks
Cost: $10 (course materials and workbook)

Our next workshop is being held at the LBD PCN office in Leduc.

January 10th, 17th and 24th 
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Call by January 7th, 2013 to register.

For program information and registration, please contact Penny at 780-986-6624.