Thursday, December 29, 2016

Dr. Danielle Turnek
With 2016 coming to an end, Putnam County Hospital this week released some statistics regarding the first 18 months of operations at the Putnam County Pain Management Center.

The center opened in June 2015 as a balanced pain management center at the Putnam County Hospital Surgery Center and Outpatient Clinic area inside the hospital.

Staffed by Dr. Danielle Turnak, the Pain Management Center diagnoses acute and chronic pain and creates individualized treatment plans for patients based on a number of considerations, including the cause and level of pain.

“The support of area physicians and those that live and work in Putnam County and surrounding areas have allowed the Pain Management family to care for its patients while feeling right at home,” the PCH statement read. “Over the previous year we have had great success in providing high-quality care to our patients who suffer from chronic pain.”

Some results from the program include (January through Aug-ust 2016):

• 87 percent of patients report moderate to significant improvement following a procedure from Dr. Turnak.

• 90 percent of patients were compliant with their established care plan; meaning patients followed the physician’s plan of care that was prescribed.

• Less than 0.8 percent of patients showed up in the emergency department for the same issue they were being treated for in the pain center.

• 97.5 percent of patients report that their RFA was beneficial.

Dr. Turnak works with referring physicians to care for patients with a balanced pain treatment program. Treatments typically include the tailored use of physical therapy and medication management while common interventional procedures include epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, selective nerve root blocks and radiofrequency ablations.

Dr. Turnak will also refer patients to alternative treatment in the community.

The overall goal is to get the patient back to living a normal, pain-free life without the dependency of medication.

Putnam County Pain Management welcomes referrals or self-referrals of those suffering from acute or chronic pain who would benefit from a balanced approach to treatment.

Those who feel they would benefit from the program are encouraged to call their doctors or for more information, call Putnam County Pain Management Center at 301-7450 .