Dennis Smith joins this podcast to help increase awareness and share the importance of advanced health care decision making within the community, and to encourage patients to name a health care proxy and fill out their advance directive at the hospital.

We all feel bad about our selves every now and then. However, sometimes, we let those feelings fester and grow. We may start encouraging more inner bad feelings about ourselves by negative self talk. Dr. Dave Miers discusses how this type of thinking impacts us, and how to stop the negative self talk so we can feel better about ourselves and retain that positive energy that helps us all carry on every day.

As many people will tell you, kidney stones can be quite painful. Some stones will pass spontaneously with minimal treatment, however, for some that do not pass on their own, there are treatments available. Dr. Leslie Spry discusses kidney stones and treatment options available if you discover you have formed kidney stones.

Food and the nutrients it provides are essential for the energy your body needs to be healthy. If you don't get enough nutrients, you may suffer from malnutrition.

Nancy Hakel-Smith, PhD, RDN, LMNT, discusses malnutrition and the way in which Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) at Bryan LifePointe can help you eat healthier and get the nutrition you need to stay healthy.

It's estimated that 78 people a day die from overuse of opioids. Opioids have been a common prescription solution for pain. However, the current opioid epidemic demonstrates that addiction is a serious risk. Dr. Wes Whitten of Nebraska Pain Institute discusses signs of possible addiction and the many non-surgical options other than opioids for pain management.

Children grow and develop differently, however, parents worry if their child isn't reaching some of the same milestones as their neighbors children. How do you know if your child isn't developing normally? Listen in as Stacey Anderson, Bryan pediatric occupational therapist, shares milestones children should hit at each age, red flags to look out for, and when you should consider developmental screening.

The pain and discomfort of arthritis can have a big effect of your quality of life. A good exercise program and a healthy diet have been shown to increase your mobility and provide medication free pain relief. There are foods to avoid that can increase inflammation and there are even certain foods that can help some of your arthritis pains Jaimie Russell, a nurse practitioner with the Arthritis Center of Nebraska, discusses how nutrition and exercise habits can affect your arthritis.

According to the CDC, as many as 14 million Americans, including teens, get infected with the HPV Virus every year. HPV infection most often comes from sexual contact and is the virus that causes genital warts. Women and men can get certain cancers from HPV. The good news is, HPV vaccines offer protection against the types of HPV that are most likely to cause cancer. Vaccination is one of the best ways parents can protect their children from HPV related cancer. Philip Boucher, MD, is here to dispel myths and misunderstandings surrounding the HPV vaccination as a means of prevention of the HPV virus.

If you have pain in your joints or bones that is affecting your quality of life, and your primary care provider has been unable to figure out what is causing that pain, it may be time to make an appointment with a rheumatologist. William Saalfeld, DNP, APRN-NP discusses the field of rheumatology and how it can help you if you suffer from pain or movement limitations of the joints, muscles or tendons.

Every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke. The good news is, that there is a new treatment that is proving to be very effective at removing large clots, and in conjunction with tPA, it can lead to better outcomes for stroke patients. Kyle Pfeifer, MD discusses mechanical thrombectomy, and how this ground breaking stroke treatment is helping to save lives.