To an audience that included other ear, nose, and throat doctors and physicians, including allergists and pulmonologists, all hailing from leading North Florida institutions, family and private practice, and other diverse backgrounds, Dr. Kalpana laid out how SAENT is treating her patients suffering from advanced or unique cases of sinusitis.

Balloon Sinulplasty™ – simple, effective, and leading the way for sinusitis treatment

Held at the Duval Hotel in Tallahassee, Florida two Thursdays ago on October 11th, 2012, Dr. DePasquale presented how she utilizes a small, simple but extremely effective product and procedure called Balloon Sinulplasty. The engagement was sponsored by Acclarent, the company that produces and markets the products.

Balloon Sinulplasty is simple: patients that suffer from chronic sinusitis, a common medical ailment in which an individual experiences pain and discomfort due to narrow, inflamed, or swollen nasal passages in and around the face, have a handful of treatment options to choose from. Dr. DePasquale explained that her office favors Acclarent’s system.

One of the biggest reasons is that Balloon Sinuplasty is a minimally-invasive procedure that doesn’t require painful or debilitating surgery. Instead, it focuses on leveraging endoscopic technology – that is, tiny yet durable tools and equipment designed to do the same job as traditional surgery, but without the requirements of incision.

Essentially, an extremely small tube is inserted into and guided along the nasal cavity until the source of the blockage is discovered. From there, an even smaller catheter glides along the walls of the cavity without disruption, which when properly placed, inflates to open the passageway. The new opening will be durable and long-lasting.

The bottom line, Dr. DePasquale explained to the doctors in the room, was that Balloon Sinuplasty can save patients time, money, and well-being.

Dr. Kalpana DePasquale regularly speaks at many medical and otolaryngologist conferences throughout the year, appearing alongside other leading practitioners on panelist discussions, and lending her expertise to ear, nose, and throat medical professionals and associations across the U.S. each year.

You can request Dr. DePasquale to speak at your next event or conference. Simply call (904) 461-6060 and mention that you read this article!

You’re likely to be greeted by Ivory either in the front or back office. Her front office activities will include checking you into and out of care, scheduling your next appointment, and even answering your phone call! She’ll also be there to help you go through your bill and any basic questions you have about your medication or treatment schedule.

Before you see Dr. DePasquale, you may spend a few moments with Ivory in the back office as well. She’ll be there to help administer some of the routine vitals testing like taking your blood pressure, pulse, checking your respiration, height, weight, and more.

She’s also available to assist in picking up some paper work overflow, including updating your patient records, medication lists and refills, and verifying your insurance information is  accurate and up-to-date.

Education and experience helped Ivory stand out

Ivory received an Associates in Science from Everest University in Jacksonville, Florida in 2006, having studied anatomy, physics, pharmacology, and phlebotomy. Right out of school she worked for Project Special Care, a non-profit Florida corporation dedicated to providing personalized care to special needs children.

She spent the next four years working in private care at St. Augustine Pediatric Associates as a medical assistant, juggling the unique demands of pediatric care with managing the front office. Here Ivory gained invaluable experience in various roles ranging from assisting the M.D. in minor procedures to influenza testing and immunization to ordering and logging vaccines and restocking office supplies.

From 2010 to present, Ivory has served as a medical assistant with Family Practice in St. Augustine, Florida and Baptist Primary Care in Jacksonville, Florida. Again, it was her ability to handle multiple tasks around the office that each commanded her full attention during the day that impressed her employers.

She developed practical familiarity and experience with ALLSCRIPTS, an electronic medical recording (EMR) platform that is paving the way for the future of patient information security and accurate medical record recording and filing. SAENT considers these technical skills when evaluating and recruiting candidates for employment with our office, and Ivory’s experience shined.

We’re happy to welcome Ivory Anderson into our practice, and we hope you’ll take a moment to say hello on your next appointment!

Need to schedule? Are you due for a check-up with Dr. DePasquale? Suffering from discomfort or inflammation in your ear, nose, or throat? Sinus problems? Call St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat today at (904) 461-6060 to schedule a consultation with Dr. DePasquale and get the care you deserve!

Theresa is no stranger to the medical industry. Before arriving at SAENT, she spent sixteen years working as the Manager of the Medical Billing Office at Associated Health Claims, located in Jacksonville, FL. She was heavily involved with insurance, specializing in behavioral and mental health claims and benefits, and acting as a liaison and contract negotiator between insurance companies and the medical provider. She ran the office well: hiring and training new staff, improving performance, implementing superior customer service, and resolving all patient problems and billing issues. Because of the skills she honed at Associated Health Claims, we’re confident that Theresa will do great things for the SAENT office.

From 2001-2011, Theresa Martin was the Manager/Supervisor at Kid’s Closet, a popular children’s consignment store located in Jacksonville. She maintained the highest level of customer service while working on ads, sales, and other promotional campaigns for the store. She was responsible for improving the business in ways that ranged from designing their website to building an effective sales team to exceeding sales goals. Impressive, no? We’re excited to add Theresa’s varied, wide-ranging skills to the team here at SAENT.

Theresa brings a number of important certifications and skills to St. Augustine’s Ear, Nose, and Throat: proficiency in Microsoft products and business accounting software, skills with medical billing software, and a Life and Health Insurance Agent License. She’s taken a Powerful Communication Skills for Women seminar as well as a 40-hour Life and Health Agent Qualification Course.

We’re very happy to welcome Theresa to our office, and hope that you’ll stop by and say hello sometime. Her skills and experience will be of invaluable assistance to St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat—and to our patients, as well. As our new office manager, Theresa will help us offer you the high-caliber customer service and personalized care that you deserve and expect from SAENT.

To learn more about the services we offer, check out our website.

The OMED is an annual conference held in a different major city each year, organized to bring together ostheopathic physicians, medical staff, researchers and academics for five days of presentations, speaker panels, and commercial exhibition by medical industry providers.

OMED is organized by the American Osteopathic Association.

This year, OMED will be held in San Diego, California from Sunday, October 7^th through Thursday, October 11^th, 2012. You can check out a digital version of the conference brochure here!

Dr. DePasquale as a speaker

Our very own Dr. DePasquale will be delivering two separate lectures to conference attendees. The first is titled Allergic Rhinitis: The Otolaryngologist’s Perspective; the other is titled Chronic Sinusitis: The Evolution of Sinus Surgery.

Allergic rhinitis is the physical reaction from external influences, like the act of breathing dust, pollen, and other allergens, that aggravate your sinus activities. It’s more commonly known as hay fever, and is mostly active around this type of year (fall).

It’s a common and easily treatable problem that affects people of all backgrounds and ages. Allergic rhinitis is also easily treatable, so if you’re experiencing some of the symptoms like problems with smelling, chronic sneezing and tearing of the eyes, or itchy, stuffy, or a runny nose, you’re encouraged to contact us to set up an appointment in St. Augustine to get checked out.

You can check out an article we wrote on hay fever last year here.

Chronic sinusitis, on the other hand, is similar to allergic rhinitis but it’s a little more serious. The symptoms can also create more discomfort, and persist for longer periods of time.

This condition is characterized by an interference with the nasal cavities “drainage” system – in other words, chronic obstruction of the naval and sinus cavities – whether it be by infection, pre-existing growth traits like a deviated septum, or by swollen or inflames nasal cavities.

Symptoms that are commonly reported by those suffering from chronic sinusitis include persistent, unpleasant discharge from the nose or throat; pain and inflammation around the patient’s face; aching, coughing, or loss of smell and taste.

About OMED

OMED offers a platform for leading physicians from around America to gather and lend their expertise with colleagues, medical students, and representatives from the public and private business and medical community.

The expo is also renowned hosting philanthropic and cause-driven activities during the week to benefit the host city in which it’s held. Activities this year include a 5k walk and run and a gold tournament, sponsoring the Collegiate Challenge, during which medical school students compete bragging rights and a trophy to commemorate the game.

We’re so excited that Dr. DePasquale will be speaking at the conference! We wish her safe travels and a wonderful week!

Photo Attribute: http://www.osteopathic.org/inside-aoa/events/omed-2012/Pages/default.aspx

You call in the experts, of course. The “Ear Digger” episode of TLC’s popular freaky-habit show, “My Strange Addiction”, featured a young woman who couldn’t stop digging in her ears with sharp, pointy objects. Our own Dr. Kalpana DeDasquale of St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat was called in to give her some much-needed help! The air date for the episode was February 17th, 2012, and the entire episode is embedded below.

When 32-year-old Jamie, a resident of Jacksonville, FL, was a young girl, a flower became lodged in her ear canal. The flower was removed, but Jamie was convinced that there was still something foreign deep inside her ear.

Over the next 23 years, her ear-digging habit became a full-blown addiction that alienated her friends, forced her fiancé to postpone the wedding, and left her at risk of going completely deaf.

Jamie used a plethora of scary-looking tools to accomplish her gruesome task, from bobby pins to different-sized scissors to a tiny scalpel. Her ears have repeatedly swollen themselves shut, she’s punctured her ear drum, and she’s had multiple ear infections and regular bleeding.

How Dr. DePasquale was able to help Jamie

Jamie knew she had to stop this dangerous compulsion, but it wasn’t until her fiancé postponed their wedding that she decided to seek medical help at St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat.

At SAENT, Dr. Kalpana listened to Jamie describe her addiction, then used a otoscope to check out the damage done to Jamie’s ear canals. She showed Jamie the results of her digging, a location in the inner ear that had “clearly been picked at” and various areas of swelling, though Dr. Kalpana was surprised to find that the ear drums were intact.

At the end of the examination, Dr. Kalpana sat Jamie down and gave her a sobering warning. “I am worried that you will have progressive hearing loss, perforate your ear drums, perhaps even require surgery,” she told a concerned-looking Jamie. “I do suggest that you see a psychologist so that they can help the emotional side of this.”

Thankfully, Jamie took Dr. Kaplana’s warning to heart and went to a therapist, who diagnosed her with “impulse control disorder,” a condition characterized by impulsive actions that achieve a small, short term gain (such as an adrenaline rush) but at the expense of a huge, long-term loss.

The therapy sessions and her visit to St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat helped Jamie to finally stop her ear digging, and the episode left her alive and well, working on her relationship with her fiancé and freed from her dangerous addiction.

This strange addiction seems extreme to most, but inner-ear disorders and discomfort is not uncommon. If you feel pain or discomfort in your ears or sinuses, make sure you give us a call to schedule a visit with Dr. DePasquale by calling (904) 461-6060 today.

Download a FREE balloon sinuplasty evaluation checklist by clicking here!

Are you bothered by blocked sinuses that contribute to chronic sinusitis and breathing difficulties? Dr. DePasquale’s expertise includes both nonsurgical and surgical solutions for nasal and sinus difficulties.

Dr. DePasquale recommends conservative, nonsurgical treatments whenever possible, including antibiotics, nasal sprays, and lifestyle modifications. If non-surgical methods fail to provide symptom relief, surgery may be necessary.

Dr. Kalpana DePasquale at St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat in Florida performs balloon sinuplasty to help open blocked sinus passages and restore function. Balloon sinuplasty is a minimally invasive procedure that uses no incisions and has a short recovery time.

Now, St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat offers a FREE balloon sinuplasty evaluation form, a PDF checklist that you can download and print from our website, that will help you understand if this procedure is right for you by use of an easy survey we’ve developed.

Dr. DePasquale was the first and only physician involved in bringing this new technology to Saint Augustine in 2007. She has performed hundreds of successful surgeries. Dr. DePasquale is an International Master Trainer for Acclarent and involved in educating and training fellow otolaryngologists on how to use this revolutionary technology.

Balloon Sinuplasty in Office!

Balloon sinuplasty is a minimally invasive procedure that Dr. DePasquale performs to open blocked sinus passages for patients with chronic sinusitis. Dr. DePasquale carefully performs the procedure through a nostril. During the balloon sinusplasty procedure, she inserts a thin catheter followed by a balloon to open and widen the wall of the sinus passageway, allowing sinus fluids to drain.

Until now, minimally invasive balloon sinuplasty had to be performed in the operating room. Dr. DePasquale is the first and only Doctor in St. Augustine, Florida to offer this procedure in office. It’s so easy, in fact, most people return to work or their normal activities within 24 hours.

For more information on balloon sinuplasty in St. Augustine, Florida or to schedule your personal appointment, call St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat today at (904) 461-6060 or visit our website to review real patient testimonials at www.saent.net

If you have a tendency to fall down, or experience regular dizziness, unsteadiness, or a sense of spinning, moving, or floating, the culprit may be your inner ear.

Your sense of balance is primarily controlled by the vestibular system, an intricate structure deep inside your ear. Vestibular dysfunctions, or inner ear disorders, lead to symptoms like dizziness and falling, and they affect over 60 million men and women in the U.S.

Have you ever experienced vertigo—the sense that the room is spinning around you, or that you’re whirling around in space? An inner ear disorder might be to blame.

Thankfully, there’s a way to get your inner ear and sense of balance checked out at St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat, and while it’s a very long name, the process for treatment is actually quite simple. It’s called Videonystagmography Testing.

The “VNG test” for short accurately diagnoses inner ear disorders so that we may determine the source of the issues you’re experiencing, determine the best possible treatment, and get you standing back up on your own two feet.

How VNG Testing Works

This may sound counterintuitive, but the balance mechanisms in your inner ear are connected to the muscles in your eye via neural circuits. So don’t be surprised that the VNG test includes an examination of your eye movement—it’s all linked.

At St. Augustine, you’ll put on a pair of goggles with a camera attached, and the camera will record the quick jerks of your eye during a series of varied activities. The VNG test will also detect small eye jerks that are the result of inner ear disorders.

Next, the Technician will check your balance mechanism with a series of activities that include shaking your head, glancing between two points, following moving lights with your eyes, lying in specific positions, and quickly sitting up, among other physical movements.

The test concludes by examining the way your inner ear’s balance mechanisms respond to stimulation. Warm and cool air will be gently put into your ear canal, and the response frin your ear muscles will be monitored.

Why the VNT Test is Unique

VNG (let’s say it again: Videonystagmography!) is the only test that can tell the difference between a problem in one ear vs. a problem in both ears.

How Should I Prepare for the VNG Test?

To ensure you have the best possible VNG testing experience at SAENT, make sure you do the following:

• Dress comfortably.
• No eye makeup (no eyeliner, no eye shadow, no mascara!).
• Don’t drink any form of alcohol for 48 hours before the test.
• Don’t eat or drink anything (except water) for 3 hours before the test, unless you’re diabetic.
• Don’t smoke for 3 hours before the test.
• Avoid caffeinated beverages—coffee, tea, soda—for 12 hours before the test.
• Certain medications must be avoided before the test, such as sleeping pills, anti-vertigo medications, tranquilizers, diuretics, sedatives, barbiturates, anti-depressants, anti-nausea medications, antihistamines, narcotics, anti-anxiety medications, and pain medication.

Please discuss time frame, specific medications, etc. with your physician. Don’t discontinue prescription medications before consulting with the doctor who prescribed them to you!

Photo attribute: www.nashua.edu

In her last post which she had held since 2005, Amy practiced as a PA for Michelle McLanahan, MD of Jacksonville, Florida, performing rounds for OB-Gym patients at St. Luke’s Hospital. Her daily activities included evaluating incoming and resident patients, performing colposcopies, inductions, and assisting Dr. McLanahan in various procedures.

Prior to her position with Dr. McLanahan, Amy practiced as a PA for a handful of prominent physicians and offices in the Jacksonville area. Among those she closely worked with include Lionel J. Gatien, D.O.; Infectious Disease Consultants; First Coast Cardiovascular Institute; and Critical Care Consultants.

The experience, education, and training Amy brings to the team at SAENT is quite insurmountable. She holds her Physician Assistant Certification from the National Commission on Certification of Physical Assistants, (NCCPA) the governing licensure board for those in her specialized line of work.

Students graduating from an accredited Physician Assistant program, meeting the accreditation standards set forth by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, may then apply for and take the NCCPA exam. Once certified, those holding the PA-C designation are then required to undergo extensive continuing education and accreditation, lasting no less than 6 years.

Amy graduated Summa Cum Laude from Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology in 1997, and in 1999 received her Bachelor of Science in Physician Assistance from Tevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN.

She completed many preceptorships (the equivalent of an internship for physicians) at world-class institutions including Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, FL; Williamson Medical Center in Franklin, TN; St. Joseph’s Health Center in Charles, MO; and within the pediatrics unit at Blanchfield Army Hospital in Clarksville, TN.

We’re extremely grateful to offer Amy a permanent home here at St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat. Her high-caliber training and qualifications offer our patients the care and attention they deserve each and every time they step through our doors, and her practice as a Physician Assistant brings to our team a dynamic element that rounds out a diverse team that we believe quite simply cannot be found anywhere else in Jacksonville.

If you would like to learn more about the services we offer, please take a moment to visit our website.

Something really powerful has arrived in the Voice Lab at St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat. We’ve expanded our space to include the new, state-of-the-art Visi-Pitch IV—a speech therapy tool that collects, graphs, and summarizes data so that our in-house speech language pathologists can better treat you and your voice problems.

What Exactly Is Visi-Pitch IV?

The Visi-Pitch technology is known for its highly-effective visual displays that present information such as vocal pitch, amplitude, and other speech and voice-related measurements graphically and auditorially.

The visual element means that we can measure and analyze your voice and speech parameters and disabilities for future comparison and analysis following treatment at St. Augustine Ear, Nose & Throat. Tracking your clinical progress is easier, faster, and now, more accurate.

An important part of the Visi-Pitch that differentiates the new model from previous releases and competitors is the ability to extract objective quantitative values from vocal functions.

Looking for some plain English? The tool helps us profile your voice (for example, before and after surgery), compare it to other data, and continually track your improvement in the weeks and months during or following recovery.

The software that is used to extract these objective measurements is often praised in professional medical journals for its robustness and accuracy, superior interpretation of data, and sophistication.

Because the device allows Dr. DePasquale to compare and correlate both the visual and auditory data-mining and playback features that come with the Visi-Pitch IV, your therapy goals will become drastically easier to reach.

More Product Highlights and Features

Visi-Pitch comes with a built-in Voice Games feature that uses catchy and engaging animation to capture the attention of children who undergo speech therapy or recovery following major surgery.

The software is a fantastic tool for motivating and rewarding our children for improvements made during our sessions together, which leads to accelerated results in almost all cases.

Another important element is the high-fidelity audio playback, which enables you and the speech pathologist and Dr. DePasquale at SAENT to listen back on the work we’ve done together, helping you as patient better understand the value of the treatment.

You’ll immediately recognize obvious improvements and progress with the playback, which can help to instill a greater sense of confidence and accomplishment in your treatment processes.

A Real-Time Spectrogram is also included with the Visi-Pitch, which is a tool that gives us a three-dimensional display (e.g., a spectrogram) of speech signals.

It’s yet another way that our clinicians can analyze and assess your vocal profile. Because vocal profiles vary tremendously from patient to patient in terms of what treatment is needed, when, and how, these highly-specialized tools allow us to work much more efficiently.

The Real-Time spectrogram can also be used for articulation training and identifying causes and treatments for dysphonic voices (a voice impairment that feel or sounds breathy, hoarse, or rough).

Should You Consider Trying Visi-Pitch?

 The Visi-Pitch tool is designed for use on the following disorders and impairments, all of which we offers treatment and therapy for at SAENT:

• Voice Disorders
• Professional Voice
• Accent Reduction

If you’re interested in learning more about the services we perform with the Visi-Pitch, or to schedule an appointment with our board-certified otolaryngologist, Dr. Kalpana DePasquale, please click here.

Photo attribute: rit.edu