Whatever your New Year’s resolution is, if it involves your health, St. John’s can help.

Weight Loss

Do you need help losing weight? St. John’s has two weight-loss programs that can help you.

¢ New Images: a medically supervised weight loss program operated by dietitians, exercise physiologists and psychologists at St. John’s Hammons Heart Institute: 417-820-3031. New Images is covered, at least in part, by most insurance plans.

¢ LEAN: (Learning, Exercise And Nutrition), a program for moderate weight loss: 417-820-2172.

¢ Weight-loss surgery: is available at St. John’s to those who have a body-mass index of more than 40 and have tried unsuccessfully to lose weight through diet modification and exercise. St. John’s surgeon Christopher Edwards, M.D., performs the procedure. Click here to learn more!


Exercise

Ready to dust off those tennis shoes and get moving? St. John’s has several fitness options to serve your needs.

¢ FITNESS MEMBERSHIPS: St. John's Fitness Centers in Springfield and Nixa offer medically supervised facilities dedicated to preventing disease and promoting life-enhancing physical exercise. Membership includes periodic fitness assessments, individualized exercise programs, state-of-the-art equipment, fitness classes, lap pools and racquetball courts. The Springfield fitness center recently celebrated 20 years of service to the community and now offers a family fitness program.
For more information and rates, please call 417-887-9868 or visit them online.

¢ LOW-IMPACT EXERCISE: For those needing low-impact exercise, PACE (People with Arthritis Can Exercise) classes are available at the Springfield fitness center on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m., and 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. for $15. PACE is a specially designed fun and safe exercise for people with arthritis to increase stamina, endurance and mobility, but is not a substitute for a prescribed exercise program. For more information, please call 820-3446 or 800-835-519 or click here to view the PACE schedule.


Managing Chronic Conditions

¢ Are you ready to get your health under control? St. John’s Medical Management Services offers disease-management programs for those with diabetes, depression, asthma, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The programs include education, medication, nurse follow-up calls and tools to control chronic conditions.

BRAD'S STORY

With one visit to St. John’s Asthma Resource Center, Brad Butts, a 34-year-old Branson music show drummer and asthma sufferer, found the right medication and tools to manage his asthma so that he will never again suffer another asthma attack like the one that nearly took his two years ago.

The attack was a wake-up call that he needed to learn how to manage his asthma. After his ER visit for the attack, Brad visited St. John’s Asthma Resource Center. In one visit, Brad learned he had allergy-induced asthma. He found the right medicine to combat his allergies, which helps prevent the asthma attacks. He also learned how to use a peak flow meter, which allows him to measure the day-to-day variations in his breathing.

“I check my breathing a few times a day with the peak flow meter. If my oxygen level is low, I can adjust my medication accordingly, so I’ll never again get to the point I was at when I had my last attack,” he says.

For more information about St. John’s disease management programs, please call 417-820-3182.


Quitting Smoking

Do you need help kicking your tobacco habit? St. John’s has the program for you.

PAT'S STORY

Pat Toney, a 44-year-old senior data control analyst for Mercy Health Plans, smoked half a pack of cigarettes a day for about 15 years. She quit “four or five times over the years” but always returned to the habit she considered “an old friend.”

“Smoking was like an old friend to me,” Toney says. “I was a single mom and going outside to have a cigarette every so often gave me a few moments to myself that I otherwise wouldn’t have taken.”

When Toney decided to quit for good, she enlisted the help of St. John’s Road to Freedom Smoking Cessation program. There, she learned how to relax without tobacco.

“What I liked most about Road to Freedom was the fact that they offer you so many tools to help you quit,” Toney says. “The staff was wonderful, and the whole program seemed like a great reward system for not smoking.”

Road to Freedom includes consultations with tobacco-cessation counselors, hot stone massages, essential oil treatments, auriculotherapy and if indicated, may also include medication and nicotine replacement therapy such as patches or gum.

Please call 820-3617 or 800-909-8326. St. John’s offers a special program called Smoke-Free Babies to help pregnant woman stop smoking. Smoke-Free Babies can be reached at the same number as Road to Freedom: 820-3617 or 800-909-8326. Road to Freedom is covered, at least in part, by most insurance plans.


Reducing Stress

Are you stressed to the max?

The first step in taking control of your stress levels involves identifying your stressors and your body’s response to them, according to Susan Blackard, R.N., vice president of St. John’s Corporate Health & Wellness. “It is often said that life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you choose to respond. Learn to rate your stressors on a scale of 1 to 10,” Blackard sa

St. John’s offers several services through its integrative health care and complementary services programs that can aid in stress reduction. Services include natural therapies, nutritional supplements and personal wellness coaching, biofeedback/stress management, electromedicine, auriculotherapy, massage, essential oils/aromatherapy and reflexology; auriculotherapy; body movement, such as Tai Chi and yoga; imagery, herbs and supplements.

¢ Integrative Health: 417-820-3705.


Quitting Other Unhealthy Habits

Do you need help with an alcohol or other substance abuse problem? St. John’s offers an addiction recovery program through the Marian Center on the main campus.

¢ ST. JOHN’S ADDICTION RECOVERY CENTER

Licensed therapists assess the extent of the patient’s dependency and recommend treatment options. Services include inpatient care; a three-week (depending on assessed needs) structured intensive outpatient program; and dual-diagnosis treatment, which is a non-time-limited program for those with both addiction and psychiatric diagnoses.

A variety of educational and therapy groups are available for the patient and family through the Addiction Recovery Center. Group topics include stress and anger management, relationships, depression and more. Following intensive treatment, the patient participates in group counseling focused on after-care and relapse prevention.

Outpatient detoxification is also available for those who need medical assistance but do not need hospitalization for safe detox. Participation in the intensive outpatient program is required for outpatient detox services.

Most employee assistance programs and insurance plans cover at least some percentage of addiction recovery services. Please check with your employer or health plan for specific coverage information.  Please call 417-820-2990 for more information.