The Chester Clinic and Steeleville Family Practice provide a variety of in-office procedures that can be performed during a scheduled doctors visit. Before you schedule an appointment with a specialist, talk with your family provider to see if they can care for your health need at one of Memorial’s clinic locations.
In-Office Procedures offered at Memorial’s Rural Health Clinics include:
Trigger points are painful “knots” in your muscles. They form when a muscle can’t relax. Sometimes you can feel these knots when you rub your muscle. A trigger point injection can help soothe muscle pain, especially in your arms, legs, lower back and neck. It also can be used to treat fibromyalgia, tension headaches and myofascial pain. Injecting small amounts of anesthetic and steroid into the trigger point can help alleviate the pain. Trigger point injection may be right for you if your muscle pain has not improved with other treatment, including pain medication and physical therapy.
Cryosurgery is a technique for removing skin lesions that primarily involve the surface of the skin, such as warts, seborrheic keratosis (noncancerous skin growth), or actinic keratosis (a rough, scaly patch on the skin caused by years of sun exposure.). Liquid nitrogen needs to be applied long enough to freeze the affected skin. By freezing the skin, a blister is created underneath the lesion. Ideally, as the new skin forms underneath the blister, the abnormal skin on the roof of the blister peels off. Occasionally, if the lesion is very thick (such as a large wart), only the surface is blistered off. The base or residual lesion may need to be frozen at another visit.
Primary indications for punch biopsies include suspicious skin growths and lesions. These include melanoma, carcinomas and various bullous or inflammatory skin conditions. Small pieces of skin from any part of the body are removed using a tube-shaped tool. It is rotated through the skin to the subcutaneous fat. The specimens obtained are sent for microscopic and histopathological examination, or bacterial and/ or viral cultures. While punch biopsies are capable of showing the full thickness of lesions, they are limited in terms of how much width they are able to display with respect to the specimen obtained. This limitation is crucial in the staging and prognosis of malignant lesions.
Well Woman Exams
Schedule a well-woman visit with your doctor or nurse every year. The well-woman visit is an important way to help you stay healthy. Well-woman visits include a full checkup, separate from any other visit for sickness or injury. These visits focus on preventive care for women, which may include:
Services, like shots, that improve your health by preventing diseases and other health problems
Screenings, which are medical tests to check for diseases early when they may be easier to treat
Education and counseling to help you make informed health decisions
Contraceptive implants are a long-term birth control option for women. A contraceptive implant is a flexible plastic rod about the size of a matchstick that is placed under the skin of the upper arm. It releases a low, steady dose of a progestational hormone. One reason the birth control implant is so effective is that it’s easy to use. Advantages include:
One of the highest levels of effectiveness of all contraceptives
No need to worry about birth control for three years
Fertility returns as soon as the implant is removed
Appropriate for women who can’t use birth control that contains estrogen
“Excision” means the doctor uses a scalpel to remove something from the skin. Excisions are recommended for problem growths such as small cancers, atypical moles, and enlarging cysts. First, the growth is numbed with injectable anesthesia. The doctor then excises the growth and a narrow rim of normal-appearing tissue. The excised tissue is sent to a dermatopathology lab for final diagnosis which may take 1-2 weeks.
Vaccines can prevent infectious diseases that once killed or harmed many infants, children, and adults. Without vaccines, your child is at risk for getting seriously ill and suffering pain, disability, and even death from diseases like measles and whooping cough. On-time vaccination throughout childhood is essential because it helps provide immunity before children are exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases.
The Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program offers vaccines at no cost to eligible children through the Chester Clinic which is enrolled in the program. This program provides free vaccines to children who are eligible for Medicaid or are under-insured.
You’re never too old to get vaccines. In fact, sticking to an immunization schedule as you age gives you the best shot at long-term health. Recommended Adult Immunizations include: Flu, Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis or whooping cough), Hepatitis B, HPV (human papillomavirus), MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), Chickenpox, and Shingles. Additional vaccinations may be recommended depending on your age and health history.
An electrocardiogram records the electrical signals in your heart. It is a common and painless test used to quickly detect heart problems and monitor your heart’s health. An electrocardiogram is a noninvasive way to help diagnose many common heart problems in people of all ages. Your doctor may use an electrocardiogram to determine or detect:
Abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmias)
If blocked or narrowed arteries in your heart (coronary artery disease) are causing chest pain or a heart attack
Whether you have had a previous heart attack
How well certain heart disease treatments, such as a pacemaker, are working
Electrosurgical Procedures
Electrosurgery for dermatology procedures is the ideal method for removal of hemangiomas (bright red birthmarks) and pyogenic granulomas (skin growths that are small, round, and usually bloody red in color) due to their vascular nature and tendency to bleed. Electrosurgery is used to coagulate the tissue to prevent bleeding and destroy any foreign cells that may still exist.
Talk to your physician about it! To schedule an evaluation with a Memorial Hospital Provider contact one of our Rural Health Clinic Locations.