Business I doer profile

Toward Better Health

Beaumont Hospitals
anesthesiologist
aims to put patients
on road to recovery.

Ilene Wolff
Special to the Jewish News

H

is face appears on the Beaumont
Hospitals TV commercial for
less than a second, but in a
testament to the power of this electronic
medium, the image sticks.
"Not a week goes by without a patient
pointing to me and saying, `You're the doc-
tor in the commercial!"' says Jim Grant,
M.D., chairman of anesthesiology at
Beaumont in Royal Oak.
Grant is usually putting those patients
"to sleep" before surgery. Anesthetizing
patients prior to surgery or procedures is
the bread and butter of physicians in his
specialty. But anesthesiologists don't just

put people out in the operating room; they
are also experts at treating pain.
Among the anesthesiologists' arsenal of
pain treatments are disposable medication
pumps that go home with patients after
surgery. They are most often used after
orthopedic surgery of the shoulder, hand
or knee.
The pumps are filled with up to five
days' worth of liquid local anesthetic that is
administered via a small catheter, or plastic
tube. The patient pushes a button on the
pump when he needs more pain medicine.
A regulator ensures that he doesn't get too
much medication, or too often.
With the use of the pump, patients can
go home from the hospital sooner; have
fewer undesirable side effects associated
with oral pain medication such as nausea,
constipation and sleep disturbances; and
can start rehabilitation sooner because
their pain is diminished. In addition, use
of the liquid medication keeps patients'
minds clearer than medicine taken by
mouth.
"We've been using these disposable

pumps for about two years now, and
patients generally love them:' says Grant.
"It makes them more comfortable after
surgery and in the long run reduces health
care costs because once we get good pain
control we can let the patient go home to
his loved ones:"
Kathy Tarnow of Southfield went home
with a disposable pump after knee surgery
in August.
"I went home on Sunday, Aug. 12, and
the pain pump continued to work until
Monday evening:' she wrote in a thank you
note to Grant. "The pump was great!"

Treating Pain
The board-certified anesthesiologists
Grant works with also treat most chronic
pain. In fact, the 10 anesthesiologists
who staff clinics at Beaumont Troy, the
Beaumont Health Center in Royal Oak and
the Beaumont Medical Center Macomb
Township have subspecialty certification
in treating pain.
Patients seen in Beaumont's three pain
clinics most often have chronic back or

leg pain that has not responded to routine
treatment, including physical therapy. The
clinics' medical staff use advanced tech-
niques in an effort to alleviate this debilitat-
ing condition and help the patient resume
normal activities in greater comfort.
These advanced techniques attack pain
at its source. They use medication to
block pain signals in or near the nerves
in the spine; freeze or destroy portions
of the nerves; use electricity to block the
transmission of pain signals; and shore up
crumbling bones in the back that may be
pressing on nerves, causing pain.
In addition to caring for patients
and leading the anesthesiology team at
Beaumont Royal Oak, Grant is helping
plan a new ambulatory surgery center
at the Beaumont Medical Center in West
Bloomfield. Scheduled to open in 2008, the
center will have five procedure rooms for
eye; orthopedic; plastic; gynecologic; ear,
nose and throat; and general surgeries,
Grant said.

WOULD LIKE TO JOIN IN RECOGNIZING

As JANUARY'S JEWISH NEWS DOER OF THE MONTH

I

SOUTHFIELD I ANN ARBOR
HOUSTON
WW\XT.TELEMUSCAPITAL.COM

Wealth Planning • Investment Advisory • Asset Management

A30

January 10 • 2008

iN