Advanced ENT and Allergy News

We are proud to announce the addition of Speech Pathology services for our patients at Advanced ENT and Allergy

Our Speech Pathologist

Melissa Stewart is a certified, licensed speech language pathologist. She received her Masters of Science degree in Speech Language Pathology at the University of Southern Mississippi in 1991. She specializes in medical speech pathology with primary interests in swallowing and voice disorders.

What is a Speech Pathologist?

Speech pathologists provide diagnostic and rehabilitative services for voice and/or swallowing disorders to patients with progressive neurogenic diseases, cancer of the head and neck as well as problems with voice that may result from improper use/abuse of the voice. Voice issues may also be the result of physiological issues such as reflux disease.

What are the Signs and Symptoms of a Voice Disorder?

Difficulty producing normal sounding voice can occur at any age for a number of reasons. Unhealthy vocal cords can cause you to sound old, tired, or ill when you are not. The voice can be overused, misused and abused with predictable consequences. Symptoms of a voice disorder may include: hoarseness, breathiness, loss of pitch range, change in pitch where voice sounds either too high or too low, feeling short of breath, as well as breaks or stain in the voice.

What are the Signs and Symptoms of a Swallowing Disorder?

Difficulty swallowing is called dysphagia. It can involve the mouth and the throat areas. Symptoms of a swallowing disorder may include: drooling, sensation of something stuck in the throat, frequent choking episodes, chronic cough, excessive phlegm, and frequent regurgitation of food and/or liquid. Dysphagia may lead to aspiration pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs as a result of food, liquid and/or saliva passing into the lungs instead of the stomach.

How do I get an Appointment to see the Speech Pathologist?

Discuss your symptoms with your physician. Your physician will conduct an exam and determine the nature of your complaint and refer to speech pathology as indicated.

What Happens on My First Visit?

The first visit to the speech pathologist will be to evaluate the nature or your voice and/or swallowing problems. Most initial visits last thirty minutes to one hour on length.

How Often Do I Have to Come to Therapy and How Long?

If therapy is recommended after your initial visit, the speech pathologist will discuss your plan of care with you. Most therapy visits last for thirty minutes. Frequency is usually once or twice a week. Duration is dependent on the severity of your problem.

Appointments

Please contact any of our office locations for referral instructions and appointments.

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Great News!

We are pleased to announce the formation of Advanced ENT and Allergy: a new practice partnership that unites Ohio Valley ENT & Allergy, Louisville ENT & Associates, and Commonwealth Ear, Nose and Throat.

The merger took effect March 1, 2010. What this means is:

You will still see the same doctors;
You will still go to the same offices;
You will still call the same phone numbers to make appointments or get prescriptions;
There will be no changes to the way your insurance is handled except there is a Centralized Business Office (CBO) at 4004 Dupont Circle Suite 220 in Louisville, KY. The CBO phone number is local 893-0159 and long distance is 1-800-561-2122.

By uniting the leading area ENT and Allergy physicians and consolidating some of our departments under a professional management team, we will now have more resources, more group knowledge and more time to spend on your care.

According to Dr. Kenneth M. Hodge, M.D., board chair of Advanced ENT and Allergy, the goal of bringing the practices together is to focus on new and developing technologies and patient services while continuing professional and personalized relationships that the practices have developed over the last 30 years.

“This new structure allows us to streamline our administrative tasks so that, as doctors, we can stay focused on our patients and bring our depth of talent and specialized training to any ear, nose and throat problem regardless of its size or scope,” said Hodge.

Together, the practices that now comprise Advanced ENT & Allergy are able to coordinate patient care by taking advantage of opportunities to integrate patient communications systems through electronic patient health records which enhance the timeliness of diagnostic reports, treatments and coordinated scheduling.

Advanced ENT and Allergy provides a full spectrum of ear, nose and throat care as well as head and neck surgery. The practice includes six centers of excellence: The Allergy Center, The Hearing Center, The Sinus Center, The Thyroid Center, The Aesthetic Center and The Clinical Research Center which tests and develops cutting edge products and services.

As a result of the merger, Advanced ENT & Allergy employees more than 125 supporting personnel including Timothy Jarm, CEO and Jolene Eicher, COO. The practice is expected to manage more than 50,000 patient visits per year. Advanced ENT & Allergy participates in all major insurance plans and is affiliated with almost all hospitals in the region.

We believe that the merger will give our doctors the opportunity to enhance their expertise and improve your care.

Thank you so much and we look forward to serving you even better in the future.

Ahead of the curve, relief right around the corner,