physician

Dr. Clint Purvance has announced the addition of three new physicians to the Barton Health team in South Lake Tahoe: Dr. Sherellen Gerhart, Dr. Danielle Priem and Dr. Saul Zelan.

Sherellen Gerhart, MD is Barton Palliative Care's physician. Palliative Care is a new service line created to help patients develop an optimal care plan catered to their individual health and comfort needs once diagnosed with a terminal illness, but not yet ready for hospice; learn more below. Dr. Gerhart is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Palliative and Hospice Medicine, and Geriatric Medicine.

Fallen Leaf Campground will be closed starting Monday, June 27 so county and state public health and vector control officials can start pesticide treatments to minimize the risk of plague.

The treatments are a public safety precaution after tests on 15 rodents resulted in one positive case of plague on June 20, 2016. There is minimal risk to the public at this time.

The campground will close at 7:00 p.m. Monday but all campers will need to check out by noon. The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit expects it to reopen by Friday, July 1 in time for the holiday weekend.

A flea from a Yellow pine chipmunk in the Tahoe area has tested positive for plague according to El Dorado County health officials. The flea was sampled from one of three rodents trapped in the Fallen Leaf Campground area during routine plague surveillance May 18, 2016.

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month. Do you know the facts about hepatitis and if you may have it?

Hepatitis is a viral infection of the liver. There are three major types: A, B and C. Vaccines are available to protect against Hepatitis A and B, but none are available for Hepatitis C.

Hepatitis B and C can cause chronic infections that if left untreated can lead to liver damage, liver failure or even cancer. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Hepatitis C is the leading cause of liver transplants in this country.

Over 100 people attended the Make Tahoe Work For You Leadership Lake Tahoe Summit on May 6 at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe. The one-day Summit, featuring inspiring sessions for individuals and business owners, provided Lake Tahoe residents with tools to make Tahoe a viable place to succeed, both personally and professionally. The Summit was organized by the Tahoe Chamber’s Leadership Lake Tahoe 2016 class.

Amanda Weavil, MD collected her third victory this month when she was voted Barton Health’s 2016 Doctor of the Year.

Dr. Weavil is a board-certified OB-GYN for Barton Women’s Health. In early March, she won the Dancing with the Tahoe Stars competition and received the people’s choice award. Now, in honor of national Doctors Day, Barton Health physicians and staff voted Weavil as their favorite physician.

For the past few weeks, "celebrities" from South Lake Tahoe have been practicing with their professional partners, all in a quest to win the coveted mirror ball trophy in the Tahoe Arts Project's 4th annual Dancing with the Tahoe Stars

All of the rehearsing, and nursing aches and pains, have come down to this, the final event which will be held at MontBleu Resort on Saturday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m.

South Tahoe Now caught up with a few of the couples in their secret rehearsals as they polished up their dance moves in preparation for the big night.

Barton Health has expanded their OB-GYN practice with the addition of Dr. Lisa Carbonell who is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist who studied medicine at the University of Puerto Rico. She completed her residency at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona and is currently in the board certification process. Dr. Carbonell is fluent in both English and Spanish.

In September, longtime physician Dr. Paul Marlowe will say farewell to his patients and the urgent care practice where he has provided care for 32 years as he embarks on an adventure with his wife Lorraine. The uniquely quirky and endearing Dr. Marlowe is known throughout the community for providing exceptional care since 1983.

Health officials in El Dorado County are reminding residents and visitors that chipmunks, squirrels and other wild rodents can carry plague, and that a few simple precautions can prevent the spread of the disease.

"While human cases of plague are fairly rare, there are many areas in California, including higher elevation areas of El Dorado County, where wild rodents have been found in the past to carry plague," said Karen Bender, Supervisor with the El Dorado County Environmental Management Division.

Military veterans of all ages will be honored at the 5th Annual Aviation Roundup, August 22 and 23, 2015 at Minden-Tahoe Airport. Among those veterans being recognized is Dr. Kyle Swanson, an orthopedic surgeon with Tahoe Orthopedics & Sport Medicine in Carson City and Lake Tahoe. The Army veteran served in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan where he performed surgeries on soldiers and Afghan civilians injured during the conflict of war.

Former South Lake Tahoe orthopaedic surgeon and U.S. Ski Team doctor, J. Richard Steadman, MD, will be inducted into the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Hall of Fame on Friday, July 10th, during the Society’s Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. AOSSM Hall of Famers are individuals in the sports medicine community who have contributed immensely and set themselves apart from others in the field.

An effort by some residents of Olympic Valley to turn the small Sierra Nevada community into a town has attracted notable opposition from Squaw Valley, the ski resort that would provide most of the new municipality’s income.

On behalf of the entire Barton family, I wish to express my deepest condolences to the Fry family on the passing of Dr. Paul J. Fry, II.

Dr. Fry made significant contributions to the health and wellness of our community, and his impact has improved the lives of many.

"Papa Fry," as he was known by many members of the community, was a beloved orthopedic physician in Lake Tahoe and Carson Valley for nearly 50 years. He opened Tahoe Fracture Clinic in 1964, and propelled the orthopedic program to a nationally recognized level.

Barton Health used National Doctor's Day on March 30 to announce this year's Doctor of the Year, Henning Mehrens, M.D. . He won the honor in recognition of his work at the Barton Skilled Nursing Facility and for his other specialties of family practice and urgent care.

Barton Health staff and physicians gathered in the hospital’s Snowflake Lobby to recognize Mehrens who has been on staff there since 1976.

Flu season is underway. Misconceptions about the flu prevent people from taking the proper precautions. For example, being out the in cold does not cause the flu. Here are a few more flu myths I hear and facts to help you stay healthy this winter.

FLU MYTHS

MYTH:If you think you have the flu, go to the doctor to get antibiotics.

A South Lake Tahoe doctor's experience as the on-board physician of the National Geographic ship Explorer is the subject of the Tahoe Area Sierra Club's November 20 meeting.

Location

Backers of California Proposition 46 claim it will protect the patient and reduce patient harm. While the initiative argues patient safeguards and seems well-intended, the proposition is flawed and costly. If passed as written, Proposition 46 would discourage doctors from working in California, jeopardize patient privacy, and increase patient and government healthcare costs.

Alison Ganong, MD will be joining Tahoe Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in September.

The board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician specializes in interventional sports medicine and spine care.

“We are proud and delighted that Dr. Ganong has come on board with Barton Health,” says Chris Proctor, the director of Barton’s Tahoe Center for Orthopedics. “She has an outstanding reputation in her field and is committed to serving the growing number and variety of sports medicine needs in our community.”

Whether you are a water skier, paddleboarder, mountain biker, or hiker, you may engage your hip and core muscles more than you know. Experiencing pain in your lower back, hip, knee, or foot? Perhaps it’s your gluteus medius, a significant, but lesser known muscle.

Expanding access to healthcare in rural communities requires innovation and collaboration. In remote areas like South Lake Tahoe with smaller populations, residents still expect high quality care and individual medical needs vary widely.

To increase specialty medical services available in our community, with consideration that unique medical conditions may not have the demand for a local office, Barton Health launched Telemedicine in 2009.

How can you live a longer, healthier life? The answer is complicated and simple. “Experts” claim every conceivable option: cleanses, hormones, pills, exercises, diets, the list goes on. The options are dizzying, even to healthcare professionals.

Registration for South Lake Tahoe kindergarten and transitional kindergarten will be held May 5th through May 9th.

Children must be 5 years old on or before September 1, 2014. Children who turn 5 between September 2 and December 2, 2014 are eligible for transitional kindergarten.

California Law requires that:
1. You bring child's birth certificate;
2. You bring proof of immunizations, which includes the Varicella (Chicken Pox), Hepatitis B and for
most children - the last booster shot. Children will not be enrolled in school without presenting an

Starting April 1, all Barton Health buildings became smoke free. The smoking and tobacco ban includes all Barton Health facilities, parking lots, grounds, and Barton Memorial Hospital. All patients, visitors, medical staff, vendors, and employees will not be allowed to smoke at Barton. This includes the use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, pipes, marijuana smoking, and smoke-free tobacco products such as chewing tobacco. The one exception will be for the two current patients at the Skilled Nursing Center who smoke. No further smoking patients for the center will be accepted.