Originally published: . Volume 7, No. 5. Source pages: 9.
Dr. Melissa Bonnell, Dr. William (Gig) Costelloe, and Dr. Karen Slaton are among the presenters this year at the 3rd Annual Clinical Summit of the Louisiana Primary Care Association. The summit will be hosted along with the Louisiana Rural Health Association (LRHA) and held June 3-4, in New Orleans at the Downtown Marriott Convention Center. The theme is “Big Ideas in the Big Easy: Uniting Rural and Urban Providers.”
Drs. Bonnell and Slaton will present “Three Behaviors = Four Disease Processes = 50% of All Mortality: How to Help Patients Change the Big Three.”
Dr. Melissa Bonnell is with the Veterans Health Care System in New Orleans, and also a member of the Southern Pain Society. She works on interdisciplinary teams composed of anesthesiologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, a pharmacist, nurses, and psychiatrists, to help veterans improve health and quality of life.
Dr. Karen Slaton is also a health psychologist at Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System. She is currently the Program Manager for Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology and serves as Health Behavior Coordinator in the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention program. At the VA, her clinical practice is in the area of primary care– behavioral health integration, chronic pain and integrated health.
Dr. Slaton noted, “This talk will describe three health behaviors (tobacco use, diet and inactivity) that contribute to four major chronic diseases (CVD, Type 2 DM, chronic lung disease and many cancers) which are responsible for 50% of global mortality,” she said. “Providers will be introduced to health coaching and will learn skills (mostly from motivational interviewing and problem solving) to help their patients change problematic behaviors.”
“… from my perspective,” Slaton said, “most patients want to be healthier—they just don’t have the knowledge, skills and confidence to become healthier. Providers can use skills from health coaching to help patients set goals that are in line with their core values which makes it much more likely that changes in behavior will occur.”
Dr. Bonnell explained, “… one thing I think to emphasize is that motivational interviewing (MI) allows healthcare providers to efficiently communicate with patients about their health goals and enhance treatment adherence. In the age of managed care and pressure to increase patient access, performance, and positive outcomes, having confidence in MI skills allows providers to meet the demands of the agency while still allowing the patient to feel heard.”
Dr. Gig Costelloe will also present at the primary care summit on Friday. He will talk about “Creating Effective Teamwork and Collaboration in Integrated Settings.” Dr. Costelloe is president of Costelloe & Associates in New Orleans and a licensed Industrial-Organizational Psychologist. He has consulted for 35 years to public corporations and businesses across the country, providing pre-employment assessment, team-building, employee surveys and other psychological tools for business and industry.
The Louisiana Primary Care Association (LPCA) is a non-profit state trade association whose purpose is to promote accessible, affordable, quality primary health care for the uninsured and medically underserved populations in Louisiana, noted Shannon Robertson, Clinical Education Coordinator.
The LPCA represents 34 organizations with over 170 health care sites, private non-profit and public FQHCs across Louisiana that serves more than 300,000 patients annually, she said.
Psychologists speaking at the conference are coordinated through the Speakers’ Bureau of the Louisiana Psychological Association, serving the public interest through psychological science.
Dr. Melissa Bonnell will be a speaker at the upcoming Louisiana Primary Care Association in June. She will speak on the “Three Behaviors = Four Diseases” that lead to 50 percent of deaths. She will be presenting with Dr. Karen Slaton. (Courtesy photo.)
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