Every year around the holidays I try to engage my family and friends in conversation about end of life care. I got the idea from Engage with Grace, an organization seeking to get people to answer five questions about the kind of care they would want when they become sick or are nearing the end of life.

I try to follow the same practice with my patients, because it is very important for me to know what kind of care they want,

Please be aware that we are experiencing sporadic dropped phone lines and “fast” busy signals on both inbound and outbound calls at several of our practice sites.  It appears to be an issue with Verizon and is affecting service in many areas in and around Boston.  We are working with the phone company and our network team to resolve the issue.  Please be patient and we will update you as soon as we have more information at www.harvardvanguard.org

Everywhere we look these days we hear news about the nation’s challenge with overweight and obese children. First Lady Michelle Obama, with her Let’s Move! campaign, has made raising healthier children and reducing childhood obesity her personal mission. Wal-Mart announced recently that it would work harder to be part of the solution.  In fact, every one of us must take steps to create an environment for balancing foods coming in with the calories we spend at work and play.

Thanks to all of the SMArt Kids participants for their attendance at our February 15th session – it was a great session!  We had several new faces along with our returning SMArt Kids from our January appointment.  Everyone, parent and child alike, did a stellar job contributing to the discussion and asking many important questions.  Julie Seed, our nutritionist, and I were impressed with the level of involvement, especially given it was only our second encounter,

I am pleased to say we had a very successful first shared medical appointment at the West Roxbury site.  Congratulations to all of our super-star patients and their families for coming, participating, and most importantly – for working so well together to come up with some fabulous ideas about how to be healthy!

Thank you to Fernanda, our nutritionist, for giving the group some excellent education about lipid (cholesterol) levels and how these are affected by the foods that we eat. 

February is American Heart Month and Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates has been teaming up with the American Heart Association to provide free health screenings at the Go Red For Women CONNECT Casting Call and the Go Red Luncheon.

The Go Red Connect Casting Call was held at the Natick Collection on Friday, February 4.  Women were able to share their personal story on camera of how heart disease has touched them or someone they love. 

Many people believe that an eye exam is limited to evaluating your eyesight—how well you can see and whether you need glasses or contact lenses—and identifying diseases specific to the eye. Thorough eye exams, however, are important not just for detecting vision problems, many of which begin without noticeable symptoms, but also for your overall health. A thorough eye exam can detect a number of serious medical conditions, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration as well as common eye conditions such as cataracts.

Mayor Thomas Menino and the Boston Public Health Commission recently marked the end of National Primary Care Week by bestowing a 2010 Mayoral Prize for Innovations in Primary Care to Atrius Health in recognition of Harvard Vanguard’s Shared Medical Appointment (SMA) program. A shared medical appointment is a 90-minute group patient visit in which 8 to 12 patients experience a medical visit together with their own primary care provider or specialist, supported by a multidisciplinary care team.

Hello! We are excited to introduce to you a unique program for children and their parents called SMArt Kids, based on Harvard Vanguard’s innovative Shared Medical Appointment (SMA) model of care. A SMA is a medical appointment that also has a group component, providing 8-10 patients the opportunity to learn from the doctor as well as gain support, encouragement, and ideas from other members of the group who have similar experiences and challenges.

Welcome to the Harvard Vanguard blog! We plan to post a few times a week on a range of topics: health information and tips from our clinicians across many specialties, helpful information about our practice sites such as new services and classes, and general Harvard Vanguard news and information. Upcoming posts from our pediatrics department include safe workout tips for kids and guidance around healthy eating options; our geriatrics team will provide some insight on the importance of advanced directives;