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Old 11-02-2020, 04:25 PM
 
1 posts, read 2,383 times
Reputation: 10

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Hi all!

My family and I are moving to Cody and we need doctor recommendations for everyone:

1. Primary care physician for adults
2. Pediatrician
3. Optometrist
4. Dentist
5. OB/GYN
6. Dermatologist
7. Gastroenterologist
8. Psychologist/counselor or other mental health professional

Specifics on recommendations on why you like (or don't like) certain doctors will be appreciated!


Thanks for your help!
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Old 11-03-2020, 05:42 AM
 
Location: WY
6,243 posts, read 5,031,083 times
Reputation: 7937
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild WY View Post
Hi all!

My family and I are moving to Cody and we need doctor recommendations for everyone:

1. Primary care physician for adults
2. Pediatrician
3. Optometrist
4. Dentist
5. OB/GYN
6. Dermatologist
7. Gastroenterologist
8. Psychologist/counselor or other mental health professional

Specifics on recommendations on why you like (or don't like) certain doctors will be appreciated!


Thanks for your help!
If you're on FB look up the Cody Area Classifieds. Great site for buy/sell/trade, local info, local recommendations etc.
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Old 11-03-2020, 11:50 AM
 
1,133 posts, read 1,339,515 times
Reputation: 2238
Around here, a person can (oftentimes) find themselves 'frozen-out' of the community EXTREMELY quickly (and QUITE without warning) by spreading recomendations, rumours, gossip & 'Heresay'.

Although she is 'growing steadily', Cody is still a small-town, with small-town ethos & mentality...

Pretty sure our Hospital & Support-Clinics have most all the requisite-specialists needed to keep local-residents from having to take long, arduous road-trips to Billings, Sheridan or Casper...but some still do, and for varying-reasons...

...but you would have to 'know' them in order to know WHY they make those choices.
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Old 11-03-2020, 05:58 PM
 
11,549 posts, read 52,918,471 times
Reputation: 16319
I've heard more than a few stories of less than satisfaction with the local medical community in Cody from friends in that area. They have found that the facilities and services to be found in Billings are better for their needs.

A lot of the deficiencies in the Wyoming medical services are due to a couple of factors:

1) low volume of various procedures compared to other regions, so the Wyoming doctors have low levels of proficiency compared to the doc's that do a lot of them every week.

2) low levels of funding due to a smaller patient base than larger medical community areas. The smaller hospitals simply cannot afford some of the expensive equipment that would receive little use in their community.

I have repeatedly encountered a similar situation in Cheyenne where we present a much larger population base to support the local medical community and a much larger hospital system than is to be found in Cody. Suffice to say that the medical community here performs at a much lower level of proficiency than can be had in Fort Collins or Denver for many routine medical needs. Some of the problems I encountered were due to the larger facilities having equipment that could do a much better job and with lower risk than what was available in Cheyenne. As well, the turn-over in physicians here yields an inconsistent patient relationship with varying levels of support and medical proficiency. I won't go into the details again (as I've posted this stuff on C-D previously), but it's a very discouraging commentary on the local medical community when a doc here repeatedly performs procedures with increasing risk of adverse outcomes knowing that he can't do better due to the equipment limitations he's got here ... and when he moves on to another locale, advises me to go to a Denver doc he has a close relationship with that has the equipment and expertise to do the procedure properly with minimal risk and the likelihood of a far better outcome. The difference? when it was bringing in revenue to his Cheyenne clinic, he was all for repeatedly performing the same procedure that didn't bring positive results. When he was no longer going to bring in revenue to the clinic, he recommended an outside medical facility that he knew had the expertise and equipment to do the job properly rather than hand me off to his practice associates in the Cheyenne clinic. While one can't say for certain that the repeated failed procedures in Cheyenne were medical malpractice, being subjected to repeated poor outcomes while the doc knew that he couldn't do the job as well as his associate in Denver is somewhat less than a satisfactory approach from a medical as well as financial perspective for me.

As well, when it came to needing some orthopedic work, my Cheyenne doc referred me to a Fort Collins practice ... the one where he gets his own surgical work done. Pretty telling to me that he doesn't trust the local practices to perform as well when it comes to working on his own body. The difference, again, is that the Fort Collins guys do these procedures all the time and have the proficiency and equipment to achieve the best outcomes in the biz. The local guys ... don't. For example, a neighbor of mine who had a low-speed motorcycle crash relied upon the local orthopod's to tend to his broken shoulder and hip. He was in constant severe pain for almost a year, and endured repeated surgeries to "correct" the shoulder problems he had. After he and I visited about our various ailments and I suggested he seek another opinion about his shoulder, he visited the clinic in Fort Collins that I was happy with. To his amazement, the Fort Collins guys did another series of x-rays and discovered an area of fractures that had never been treated by the Cheyenne docs after the motorcycle crash. The Ft Collins docs' did one minor surgery on that problem area, and my neighbor healed up properly; now without pain, he is again riding his horses and motorcycles and his life is now without any pain meds. What a difference in outcomes! It wouldn't be such an issue except that I hear this story among my aging neighbors time and time again. There's obviously a big difference in the quality of medical care to be had and the Cheyenne guys consistently don't get the same level of outcomes that can be had elsewhere.

IMO, OP, you would do best to interview prospective medical providers in the area and compare what they have for experience/frequency of the medical services you anticipate requiring and the facilities/equipment they have available to what can be found in Billings (or other regional larger medical communities) for your needs. The differences may be substantial for various specialties. Of course, for some of your needs, the differences may not be significant ... but you need to aggressively research the issues to satisfy yourself that your health and medical dollars are getting the best result for your time/effort/energy/dollars. The guys who do a procedure a couple times per year vs the guys who do them several times per week can be a big difference in outcomes ... and it's your health we're talking about, not something that can easily be replaced.

PS: I'd be especially wary when interviewing dentists. In my experience, Wyoming has a significant level of "more bucks" practices. I found out their business/medical ethics the hard way and had to wade through several before I found one here in Cheyenne that didn't try to sell me on numerous unneeded dental work. The worst of them here for me did an unneeded crown on an otherwise healthy molar ... and did such a sloppy (intentionally, I believe) abusive job of it that he induced root problems (pulpitis) not only in the tooth that he worked on, but in the adjacent molar. He had me then on track to get a root canal, maybe two. I endured a year of extreme sensitivity to temp changes and chewing issues on the one side of my jaw before the two teeth started to heal up. Thankfully, I found another dentist here who heard my complaint about the abusive dentist and doesn't push unneeded procedures. If it was me, I'd get an initial consult with a dentist under consideration and hear what they proposed for dental work. One of the worst I ever dealt with was a "big name" dentist in Denver who taught at CU ... and his claim to fame in the profession was teaching the "more bucks" approach to dentistry for the new-to-the profession folk. As life would have it, he was the brother of a lady I dated for awhile and so it was expected that I become one of his patients. I did an initial exam with him and despite an otherwise healthy jaw/teeth/gums ... he advised that I needed over $6,000 worth of work on my jaw; mostly "cosmetic" dentistry and to "repair" an irregular bite contact which had never caused me any issues. I couldn't get out of his office fast enough ....

Last edited by sunsprit; 11-03-2020 at 06:35 PM..
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Old 11-04-2020, 07:27 PM
 
5,557 posts, read 4,903,779 times
Reputation: 2787
Quote:
Originally Posted by sunsprit View Post
I've heard more than a few stories of less than satisfaction with the local medical community in Cody from friends in that area. They have found that the facilities and services to be found in Billings are better for their needs.

A lot of the deficiencies in the Wyoming medical services are due to a couple of factors:

1) low volume of various procedures compared to other regions, so the Wyoming doctors have low levels of proficiency compared to the doc's that do a lot of them every week.

2) low levels of funding due to a smaller patient base than larger medical community areas. The smaller hospitals simply cannot afford some of the expensive equipment that would receive little use in their community.

I have repeatedly encountered a similar situation in Cheyenne where we present a much larger population base to support the local medical community and a much larger hospital system than is to be found in Cody. Suffice to say that the medical community here performs at a much lower level of proficiency than can be had in Fort Collins or Denver for many routine medical needs. Some of the problems I encountered were due to the larger facilities having equipment that could do a much better job and with lower risk than what was available in Cheyenne. As well, the turn-over in physicians here yields an inconsistent patient relationship with varying levels of support and medical proficiency. I won't go into the details again (as I've posted this stuff on C-D previously), but it's a very discouraging commentary on the local medical community when a doc here repeatedly performs procedures with increasing risk of adverse outcomes knowing that he can't do better due to the equipment limitations he's got here ... and when he moves on to another locale, advises me to go to a Denver doc he has a close relationship with that has the equipment and expertise to do the procedure properly with minimal risk and the likelihood of a far better outcome. The difference? when it was bringing in revenue to his Cheyenne clinic, he was all for repeatedly performing the same procedure that didn't bring positive results. When he was no longer going to bring in revenue to the clinic, he recommended an outside medical facility that he knew had the expertise and equipment to do the job properly rather than hand me off to his practice associates in the Cheyenne clinic. While one can't say for certain that the repeated failed procedures in Cheyenne were medical malpractice, being subjected to repeated poor outcomes while the doc knew that he couldn't do the job as well as his associate in Denver is somewhat less than a satisfactory approach from a medical as well as financial perspective for me.

As well, when it came to needing some orthopedic work, my Cheyenne doc referred me to a Fort Collins practice ... the one where he gets his own surgical work done. Pretty telling to me that he doesn't trust the local practices to perform as well when it comes to working on his own body. The difference, again, is that the Fort Collins guys do these procedures all the time and have the proficiency and equipment to achieve the best outcomes in the biz. The local guys ... don't. For example, a neighbor of mine who had a low-speed motorcycle crash relied upon the local orthopod's to tend to his broken shoulder and hip. He was in constant severe pain for almost a year, and endured repeated surgeries to "correct" the shoulder problems he had. After he and I visited about our various ailments and I suggested he seek another opinion about his shoulder, he visited the clinic in Fort Collins that I was happy with. To his amazement, the Fort Collins guys did another series of x-rays and discovered an area of fractures that had never been treated by the Cheyenne docs after the motorcycle crash. The Ft Collins docs' did one minor surgery on that problem area, and my neighbor healed up properly; now without pain, he is again riding his horses and motorcycles and his life is now without any pain meds. What a difference in outcomes! It wouldn't be such an issue except that I hear this story among my aging neighbors time and time again. There's obviously a big difference in the quality of medical care to be had and the Cheyenne guys consistently don't get the same level of outcomes that can be had elsewhere.

IMO, OP, you would do best to interview prospective medical providers in the area and compare what they have for experience/frequency of the medical services you anticipate requiring and the facilities/equipment they have available to what can be found in Billings (or other regional larger medical communities) for your needs. The differences may be substantial for various specialties. Of course, for some of your needs, the differences may not be significant ... but you need to aggressively research the issues to satisfy yourself that your health and medical dollars are getting the best result for your time/effort/energy/dollars. The guys who do a procedure a couple times per year vs the guys who do them several times per week can be a big difference in outcomes ... and it's your health we're talking about, not something that can easily be replaced.

PS: I'd be especially wary when interviewing dentists. In my experience, Wyoming has a significant level of "more bucks" practices. I found out their business/medical ethics the hard way and had to wade through several before I found one here in Cheyenne that didn't try to sell me on numerous unneeded dental work. The worst of them here for me did an unneeded crown on an otherwise healthy molar ... and did such a sloppy (intentionally, I believe) abusive job of it that he induced root problems (pulpitis) not only in the tooth that he worked on, but in the adjacent molar. He had me then on track to get a root canal, maybe two. I endured a year of extreme sensitivity to temp changes and chewing issues on the one side of my jaw before the two teeth started to heal up. Thankfully, I found another dentist here who heard my complaint about the abusive dentist and doesn't push unneeded procedures. If it was me, I'd get an initial consult with a dentist under consideration and hear what they proposed for dental work. One of the worst I ever dealt with was a "big name" dentist in Denver who taught at CU ... and his claim to fame in the profession was teaching the "more bucks" approach to dentistry for the new-to-the profession folk. As life would have it, he was the brother of a lady I dated for awhile and so it was expected that I become one of his patients. I did an initial exam with him and despite an otherwise healthy jaw/teeth/gums ... he advised that I needed over $6,000 worth of work on my jaw; mostly "cosmetic" dentistry and to "repair" an irregular bite contact which had never caused me any issues. I couldn't get out of his office fast enough ....
The above also applies to Chiropractors?

I read some time ago in Consumers Reports that Wyoming, Montana did not do well in having good medical facilities and staff.
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Old 11-05-2020, 05:08 PM
 
Location: Gaagige Minawaanigozigiwining
233 posts, read 272,360 times
Reputation: 303
OP: See the DM I just sent you.

Cody is a patch em up and ship em out kinda place. They'll get you stabilized and moved out by air to either Billings or Denver (children). The magic hour to save someone's life is dependent on West Parks ambo getting to you quickly. If you're out any distance on 6NS or 8UD - you're pretty much screwed. I was working on the Chief Joe one spring and the ambo had a call up that way and had to turn around, because the snow in June was too deep. This is what you can face if you live too far out of town.

Since I left there they've added a cancer clinic (wouldn't do much for me).
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Old 11-12-2020, 10:13 AM
 
1,340 posts, read 1,985,868 times
Reputation: 2532
Where are you moving from?
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