MDwise News

Sarah Seymour, RN, a caregiver on the hospital’s oncology unit (11 South), is the 2025 Margaret McLaren Nursing Excellence Award Winner.  McLaren Flint honored Sarah and 21 other nominees at a May 8 ceremony.  The excellence award is named after Margaret McLaren, RN, who served as Superintendent of McLaren General Hospital and its predecessor, the Women’s Hospital, for 27 years. When McLaren General Hospital opened in October 1951, the facility was named in her honor, making it the first hospi...

To celebrate February as National Children’s Dental Health Month , MDwise has decided to sponsor the Meridian Dental-Family Dentistry for the Give Kids a Smile program. This program gives free dental oral exams, educational and preventive services to children ages 1-14. An MDwise Community Engagement Specialist will be available at the Give Kids a Smile event from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET or 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT, Feb. 17 at the Meridian Dental-Family Dentistry Richmond office, 520 S. 9th St., Richmond, IN 4...

MDwise partners with the Domestic Violence Network (DVN) in February, which is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. According to the DVN website, “Indiana ranks third highest out of 30 states for sexual dating violence in high school.” The organization has dedicated significant resources to working with Indiana’s young people. To learn more about their youth programming visit the website here www.dvpnindy.org/youth . DVN is in the middle of its sixth iteration of the community wide plan,...

During January, the Versiti Blood Center of Indiana wants to encourage our ethnically diverse population to donate. January National Blood Donor Month and diverse blood donation is important for better patient results. MDwise would like to encourage our diverse membership to give blood. Together, we can make a difference. According to an article by Versiti: Blood type is inherited; therefore, a compatible donor is often someone of a similar ethnic background. Sickle cell patients may require chronic blo...

By Jeffrey Wheeler, M.D., MDwise Medical Director If you put 10 people in a room, averages would suggest that 4 of them have prediabetes. If that’s not troubling enough, consider this: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that three of those four people don’t know they have it. Before you shrug and say, “Well, at least it’s not diabetes,” consider this: Prediabetes comes with many of the same long-term health risks as diabetes. The difference? With prediabetes, a person has a chance to avo...

By Jeffrey Wheeler, M.D., MDwise Medical Director As a Black woman who serves as MDwise’s Equity Officer, Anye Carson is aware of sickle cell disease (SCD). She knows that it predominantly affects Black people, can cause debilitating pain and shortens life spans by as much as two decades. She knows that SCD is passed from parent to child and even if someone does not have the disease, they might carry a gene. If a carrier is matched with another carrier of that gene, it could result in a baby being born ...

By Jeffrey Wheeler, M.D., MDwise Medical Director, and Donnica Carpenter, LMHC, MDwise Manager of Behavioral Health Programs As a society, we have made great strides in understanding addiction as a disease that can strike anyone, regardless of race, age, gender or social or economic status. We accept that addiction is a lifetime challenge, not a cure-it-and-move-on condition. And we acknowledge that each individual will follow their own unique path to recovery. Nonetheless, when it comes to treatment, m...

INDIANAPOLIS (May 06, 2024) – MDwise is proud to announce it has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2024 honor in the Mid-Sized Businesses category by IndyStar Top Workplaces. The list is based on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner, Energage LLC. The confidential survey uniquely measures 15 culture drivers that are critical to the success of any organization. Employees highlighted MDwise culture for its inclusive, collaborative, and ...

INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, Feb. 12, 2024) – MDwise has launched WORKwise, an employment assistance and training program to remove barriers and help Hoosiers find family-supporting employment. Through a partnership with Midwest Urban Strategies (MUS), MDwise will help members who opt into the WORKwise program to increase their employment readiness. Help includes interview-skills building, resume development, career aptitude assessments, employment support services, job training and more. About MUS “Access to ...

By Lisa Knowles, D.D.S., and Jeffrey Wheeler, M.D. Oral health has an impact well beyond your mouth. It’s true: Seeing your dentist is about a lot more than teeth and gums. Regular dental check-ups benefit you in more ways than just a nice smile. In fact, oral health has been proven to affect everything from nutrition to socialization and poor oral hygiene can lead to general health issues including diabetes, heart disease and stroke. That’s why more and more health care organizations promote the broade...