Q: You’ve worked in emergency medicine, GI, primary care, and telemedicine. What did those experiences teach you about gaps in traditional healthcare?
A: Working in all different specialties has given me a different perspective on traditional medicine. Mainly that the overall approach is reactive rather than preventative. Even in primary care often we are treating a problem once it has come up rather than searching for a source before it happens.
Q: What made you want to transition into a more prevention-focused model of care?
A: Working in the ER was what really gave me the motivation to want to work in preventative medicine. As rewarding as it is to help someone when they are in need, I realized a lot of the diseases I was treating were things that we could do something about before they get to the point of having to be treated in an emergent manner.
Q: What was your reaction when you saw the impact this method has on patient outcomes?
A: Honestly I was amazed how quickly someone could improve their cardiovascular risk with just a few simple changes. It made me wonder why we couldn’t just use this method more broadly to prevent these major cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes.
Patient Education and Prevention Strategies
Q: What’s one area of cardiovascular risk patients tend to misunderstand or ignore?
A: The “silent” indicators such as high blood pressure. A lot of people think if they don’t have symptoms or feel anything they aren’t at risk.
Q: Are there certain labs or symptoms that people should be paying attention to—even if they’re not in crisis?
A: In addition to the traditional labs that are drawn with someone like your primary care, people should pay attention to inflammatory markers as this is the warning sign before an event might take place.
Q: What do you find helps patients stay engaged and committed to long-term health goals?
A: I make sure I am frequently checking in on how people are doing with the changes we made as well as meeting with patients throughout the year to ensure we are meeting their personal goals.
Telemedicine and Relationships
Q: You care for patients through telemedicine. How do you build trust and connection virtually?
A: I know it can be challenging to connect with someone you’ve never met before through a computer screen. Before diving into their health I like to get to know them as a person, find out about their background and their goals.
Q: What types of patients do you see responding best to this remote, prevention-first model?
A: I don’t think there is a specific type of patient that needs this model. I think this should be universal. With Baledoneen we can tailor it to an individual’s lifestyle and goals.
Q: How do you handle situations where a patient feels discouraged or resistant to change?
A: I take things one step at a time. We make small changes they are comfortable with and slowly work up to our overall goal.
Q: What does success look like when working with a patient over time?
A: I want patients to be able to see that BaleDoneen was the work they put in and not just my decisions that invoked change. Once they see the changes start to happen I hope it sparks a motivation to continue this lifestyle moving forward.
Personal Perspective and Balance
Q: You live in Charleston with your family and love spending time on the water. How do you bring your own lifestyle into the way you support patients?
A: Involving my entire family in an active and healthy lifestyle provides me an example for patients on how they can incorporate this in with their family life too.
Q: What keeps you passionate about this work?
A: Knowing certain diseases such as strokes and heart attacks have affected people close to me and feeling as though I have a way to prevent them from affecting someone else’s family.
Universal Questions
Q: Can you share a story about a patient transformation that still sticks with you today?
A: I had a patient with significant elevations in her inflammatory markers, lipids and blood pressure at her initial visit. After just 3 months of diet and lifestyle changes and low dose medication all of her labs normalized.
Q: What’s one simple change patients can make today to improve their heart health?
A: Start getting preventative testing before you develop any problems are symptoms
Q: What do you love most about working with patients using the BaleDoneen Method?
A: People who sign up for the BaleDoneen Method are already motivated to make changes in their cardiovascular health before we even have our first conversation which is so refreshing in today’s state of healthcare.
