“Never say the word `needle.’ ”
An atypical response for an Island Fellow, but Peter Levandoski insists that this is the most important thing that he has learned as a public-health outreach coordinator with the Island Community Medical Services (ICMS) on Vinalhaven.
The first Island Fellow primarily dedicated to island health care, Levandoski is working with providers and community members on increasing the health care services available on Vinalhaven. Focusing both on initiating new treatment opportunities and expanding the impacts of existing services, Levandoski has committed to a variety of activities that include teaching Tai Chi (a form of Chinese martial arts that focuses on breathing and slow physical movements) at the senior home, distributing Superman toothbrushes to second-graders (and school leader Mike Felton) at Vinalhaven School Oral Health Day, and `scrubbing in’ to shadow the medical center dentist.
It’s an assignment that has required a high level of self-confidence, the flexibility to address the highly variable medical conditions of a rural health clinic and a tough skin — Tai Chi class attendance usually includes a couple of older gentlemen who snicker from the back row rather than focus on their breathing — but Levandoski shrugs it off as incredible preparation for developing a “bedside manner,” a crucial element of succeeding in his ambition to practice rural dentistry.
“Someday when I’m on the other side of the chair, this will help me know what to say and what not to say,” he said. “Half the battle of developing a bedside manner is making the patient feel comfortable about being there. It’s something that you develop … the more times you see patients and the more comfortable you are with it, the better. Any head start I can get is most helpful.”
Developing a good bedside manner has also helped him gain a positive welcome within the Vinalhaven community; something that he felt might be difficult given his interest in practicing dentistry.
“There’s a lot to be said for being the person who patients dread to see,” he deadpans. Joking aside, Levandoski is progressing well in his quest to help the Vinalhaven community focus on health issues that are increasingly common across remote, rural areas in America. One of his major projects is co-teaching a “living well” class focusing upon the self-management of diseases or medical issues by setting concrete, small goals.
Administered through the Maine Primary Care Association and funded by the Council on Aging, the “living well” curriculum developed from a Stanford University study on self-management of chronic diseases, but is equally appropriate for establishing a preventative-care system.
The health center successfully received funding to run the class as a pilot program (only two classes were offered funding by the state; the other is in Waterville) and Levandoski underwent training through Maine Primary Care. He also recruited participants after a community diabetes screening, and co-teaches about 15 people how to improve their nutrition and stress-management skills, increase their physical activities and best communicate with medical providers.
Levandoski believes the program is a great remedy for the country’s health care problems, particularly those affecting rural areas.
Adopting alternative forms of healthcare services also led to Tai Chi. Looking for an activity in which everybody in the community can participate but which can be particularly helpful for the elderly, and an activity that would draw community members into the eldercare facility, the weekly classes demonstrate how healthcare can fulfill community as well as health goals. Attended by 12 to 15 people of all ages, including a few eldercare residents in addition to the afore-mentioned chucklers, the focus on balance is particularly good for preventing falls. The concentration on movements in connection with breathing is also very rewarding for people who are mentally sound but not as physically active as in their earlier years.
As for adjusting to life on the island, Peter gives another atypical response: “Vinalhaven’s really big.”
Coming from a Philadelphian, this response required explanation. “The number of people, size of the island, the community activities, it’s all much bigger than I thought it would be, it doesn’t feel that isolated. I like how it really does feel like a community. Coming from Davidson, a small college in North Carolina where you basically knew or recognized everybody, I love how you see people here and they stop and say hello.”