Specialty doctors to visit emporia
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Originally published 12:47 p.m., March 18, 2008
Updated 12:47 p.m., March 18, 2008
A pediatric cardiologist who made his first stop in Emporia this month is one of three visiting doctors added to the existing list at Newman Regional Health’s specialty clinic.
The new visiting specialists are part of a plan at Newman to bring in health services to area residents and save them some out-of-town travel, while benefiting the hospital at the same time.
“Sometimes we seek the doctors out, and sometimes they seek us out,” said Paula Taylor, assistant administrator of clinical services.
The hospital now has made a variety of specialties available here on a regular basis, including Dr. Ted Daughety, whose specialty is pulmonology; Drs. Joseph Abdallah and Dr. Uhsasri Challa, nephrology (kidney disorders pulmonary); Dr. Mark Steffen, interventional pain clinic; Dr. James Warren, physical rehabilitation and pain management; Dr. Jagannadha Avasarala, brain and spinal cord neurology, with specialty in multiple sclerosis; Emporia Anesthesia Associates Nurse Anesthetists, interventional pain management; and Dr. S.A. Sajadi, image aesthetics. Sajadi specializes in various cosmetic procedures, including laser lipolysis and liposuction.
“He does a lot of other aesthetic procedures that are non-surgery,” Taylor said of Sajadi.
A spine specialist and a podiatrist soon will begin their visiting practices here, in addition to Dr. Mo Ahdab, a pediatric cardiologist with the Cypress Heart Outreach Clinic in Wichita. He will see patients from pre-natal to age 18.
Ahdab, who is called “Dr. Mo,” specializes in cardiology and electrophysiology services for a wide range of cardiac conditions, according to biographical information provided by Newman. Among those are diagnosing murmurs, chest pain, palpitations, arrhythmias, and athletic cardiac screenings.
“One out of 100 children or babies born ... has a congenital heart defect,” Ahdab said in a recent telephone interview.
Some of those defects are diagnosed more readily because of the recognizable symptoms they present.
Such infants are cyanotic, he said, with a bluish tint to the skin; they sweat frequently, sleep more than normal, breathe quickly, don’t eat well and don’t grow well.
Others may have a normal color, but do not grow well. Their primary care physicians may hear a heart murmur, or abnormal heart sounds, and the infants also do not grow well, Ahdab said.
However, some cardiac abnormalities commonly remain undiagnosed until children are 10 to 20 years of age.
Those youngsters appear to be “normal,” though they suffer from symptoms such as palpitations, syncopathy, chest pain, and tachycardia.
“It might not present early in life,” Ahdab said. “It might present later in life — 10 years, 15 years, 20 years.”
Those cases may be precipitated by growth or puberty, he said.
“It happens for some reason we don’t really understand,” Ahdab said. “For some reason they get more induced around that time.”
Ahdab will be at the specialty clinic the first Wednesday of each month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. His next visit will be April 2.
As needed, he will bring cardiac nurses with him to do some procedures at Newman. Stress tests and electrocardiograms also will be done here, he said.
Appointments can be made by calling 1-877-449-1560. More information can be found online at www.cypressheart.com.
Glenn Amundson, an orthopedist who specializes in back and neck pain in adults, will see patients in Emporia the first Friday of each month.
Amundson, who received his medical degree from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, is a spine specialist with Heartland Hand & Spine Orthopaedic Center in Overland Park.
“As volume increases (in Emporia), he will begin to look at going out there more often,” said Bob Cole, spokesman for the Heartland Hand & Spine Orthopaedic Center in Overland Park.
He served his internship at the Naval Hospital of San Diego and a residency at the Naval Regional Medical Center, according to information from the Center’s Web site. He held a fellowship with the University of California in San Diego and is board-certified for orthopaedic surgery by the American Board of Medical Specialties, according to the Heartland Web site.
Foot surgery for bunions, hammertoes, forefoot and rearfoot reconstruction are among the procedures that will be provided at the clinic by podiatrist Thomas Truong.
Truong specializes in treating patients with chronic pain in the lower extremities, traumatic injuries, and reconstructive surgery of the foot and ankle, according to his biography
He graduated from Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. and received his doctorate of podiatric medicine from the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine in 2002. He completed a three-year surgical residency at Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., where he was chief podiatric resident. Truong worked in private group practice for two years before opening the Kansas Foot Center in Newton.
According to Newman, Truong is the first doctor in Kansas to be board-certified in foot surgery under a new, standardized format.
He will see patients on Tuesdays and Fridays beginning March 25. Appointments can be made by calling 1-866-222-5177. More information is available online at www.Kansasfootcenter.com.
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