A Look Into Preventive Care, Obesity, and Medical Marijuana With Dr. Stephen Harrold - Transcribed

[00:00:00] Pete Waggoner: Welcome to the optimal health podcast presented by Hudson physicians, getting you back to optimal health when you're feeling sick, stressed, overwhelmed, or run down. We cover a ton of topics here each month. We bring out a new podcast for, and it's been absolute blast working with Hudson physicians and all of the great talent that's a part of this community. 

[00:00:22] Today we bring in Dr. Harold, who will be joining us for talk a little bit about his history in the profession. We'll also get into patient routine, patient visits, and also what preventative care looks like and, and why it's so important. Along with that, we get into obesity and where that's been at in our community and our country, as a matter, just a whole fact.

[00:00:42] Hudson physicians, why it's great to be owned and operated by the physicians themselves and why that can benefit. You read a little bit into marijuana being legalized and used more commonly. Is it safe? And then we're also gonna talk about the new Richmond medical center and it's opening on February 6th.

[00:00:56] That's coming fast. Yes. Yes. It seemed like there was just a whole dog [00:01:00] in the ground, like the other day. Yeah. But these things shoot up. 

[00:01:03] Stephen Harrold: It's going up fast now. Yes. 

[00:01:04] Pete Waggoner: Pre-fabrication is amazing. 

[00:01:05] Stephen Harrold: That's right. That's. Right. Yep.

[00:01:07] Pete Waggoner: So, Dr. Harold, thanks for joining us here today, obviously on your day off. And so we appreciate your coming in to spend some time on the podcast.

[00:01:13] Stephen Harrold: No problem.

[00:01:14] Pete Waggoner: So let's get to you first. What drove you to this profession and, and becoming a doctor? 

[00:01:20] Stephen Harrold: Sure. It was kind of a natural evolution. It wasn't a 'aha' moment or anything like that, but it just gradually happened kind of thoughts in middle school and high school that led to being pre-med in college.

[00:01:30] I went to university of St. Thomas in St. Paul, and then I'm from Indiana originally. So went back down there for med school and And then in 2005, my wife is from the Twin Cities. She wanted to move back closer to home, to her home. So we moved to new Richmond. I started my family medicine career in New Richmond.

[00:01:46] Pete Waggoner: You're pretty much done. You know, when you marry a twin city-ian. I mean the mere fact that you could get her to go over the border. That's a victory, 

[00:01:53] Stephen Harrold: right, right. Yes. Yep. 

[00:01:54] Pete Waggoner: Right, because you're done. 

[00:01:56] Stephen Harrold: Yep. She's still a Vikings fan, but yes. Yep. 

[00:01:58] Pete Waggoner: God bless her for that. 

[00:01:59] Are you [00:02:00] okay for with being here then?

[00:02:01] Have you enjoyed your, your run here? 

[00:02:03] Stephen Harrold: Yes. Yes. I was telling someone earlier, I moved around a lot as a kid, multiple states and, and lived in a lot of suburbs and to land in new Richmond and work in a small town has been really neat as a family doc to get to know multiple generations of the same family. No people in the community has been a really neat, a neat experience just going around town and, and seeing people that you know well and have taken care of over the years.

[00:02:30] Pete Waggoner: It's no different than the corner store on Andy Griffith of the Bayberry. Yeah. We're having relationships. 

[00:02:35] Stephen Harrold: There's a lot of similarities.

[00:02:35] Pete Waggoner: They know that you're so valuable to the community to keep them healthy and happy. I mean, that's just what quality of life is about.

[00:02:43] So has all this stacked up to what you thought it would be being a doctor?

[00:02:47] Stephen Harrold: I honestly didn't know what to expect. I guess when I started medical school, I don't even think I really knew what the next step was with residency or what things entailed. So I don't have any physicians in my family or anything like that. I don't know what my [00:03:00] expectations were.

[00:03:01] I think it's some parts have been exceeded certainly with, again, the. Some parts have been, you know, harder than I expected as well, but the relationship part and, and again, working in a small town is very different than I had expected being a suburb kid. 

[00:03:16] Pete Waggoner: So let's talk about preventive care.

[00:03:19] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. 

[00:03:19] Pete Waggoner: And one of the things I think about, and we're gonna talk about the importance of it, but let's make a parallel, you know, we always talk about mammograms and if you do that annually, most of the people that I know women that have been diagnosed. Actually now it's not ideal. It's not awesome, but they come out pretty darn well, because they do it annually.

[00:03:40] Stephen Harrold: Yes. 

[00:03:41] Pete Waggoner: Really shouldn't be any different in preventive care too, correct? 

[00:03:44] Stephen Harrold: Correct. I mean, the reasons I went into family medicine, I guess there's two reasons. One is the variety, you see all kinds of stuff and you get challenged to make diagnoses, but the second reason, and probably the main reason, it's not as glamorous as some other professions or other [00:04:00] specialties, but I felt like I could save the most lives by working in family medicine. There are lives that, you know, we can't count because we're preventing problems as one of our main main goals or main things we do.

[00:04:13] So and that's with preventive care, that's with preventing heart attacks, strokes detecting cancers, early preventing cancers, a multitude of, of things. 

[00:04:21] Pete Waggoner: Being out front. You know, getting ahead of it. So when you do that, what does just let's say the heart attack, strokes cancers. 

[00:04:29] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. 

[00:04:29] Pete Waggoner: What are some examples of preventative care to the layperson?

[00:04:34] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. And I guess the first point to make is one of the reasons to talk about this in a podcast is my advice to the patient would be what what's happened over the years is patients come in with their own agenda, their own list. And a big reason I think for that is when we had the advent of high deductible insurance and people wanna get, they wanna get their money's worth, which I completely understand.

[00:04:57] What sometimes happen is happens is then we have [00:05:00] competing agendas. We have their list of things and probably the first three are important. And then, you know, the next ones, they just wanna check with the doc. My advice to patients would also to be, give us time as the, as the family doc at their annual exam to actually ask what should I be doing to promote my health?

[00:05:15] What do I need to be doing preventively? Because, yeah, there are some big things that we always squeeze in, you know, making sure we check somebody's blood pressure and making sure, you know, we check cholesterol and things like that that help prevent heart attacks and strokes. But there's things further down the line that we don't always get to if we don't have the time or, or don't have the open ears, some examples are now we can do a very low radiation cat scan to screen for lung cancers.

[00:05:44] That in a certain population, a certain age that has smoked a certain amount and is still smoking, or has quit within the last 15 years. And there's a lot of kind of bullet points you gotta get through to, to. Get to that point of doing the cat scan, but we can detect [00:06:00] a lot of lung cancers now, very early and just surgically remove 'em and not have to do anything further.

[00:06:07] So things like that are not really well known where it's be becoming more and more known or preventing abdominal aortic aneurysms from rupturing. We can detect them early. And then as they slowly grow, we can put in stents and things like that, or the specialist can. 

[00:06:21] Pete Waggoner: Nobody would even know about that.

[00:06:22] Stephen Harrold: No. 

[00:06:22] Pete Waggoner: And your average Joe down the road's not. 

[00:06:24] No, definitely not. And honestly, we don't get to that with every annual exam because that's a little further down the list. We gotta get through their list first.

[00:06:34] Very interesting. What you brought up with the list. Yeah, it's the first thing I thought of is I'm like, okay, you you've only got a set period of time because there's a multitude of patients that are coming through your door. It's just how it is. 

[00:06:45] Stephen Harrold: Yes. 

[00:06:46] Pete Waggoner: So then you probably get into a position where there's a fine line between, okay. This list may have some very valuable things on here that I gotta really pay attention to, but this is getting a little bit much. But then there's other things that you really would like to get into, but your time matters.

[00:06:59] So [00:07:00] efficiency as a patient. Yeah. 

[00:07:02] Stephen Harrold: I mean, one of my favorite questions to get from a patient at an annual exam. what else should I be doing? Is there anything that you would be doing or you would be telling your brother, your father, your sister and then that really opens the door of, okay. Let's get really in the weeds and make sure there's nothing else we should be, should be covering here.

[00:07:20] Pete Waggoner: So obesity is at an all time high and believe me. I'm I'm working on it, but I was, oh, I was big boy, probably in may. I was the biggest I'd ever been. Okay. So I'm gonna go through personal experience here. On this question. And it became, it was a direct result because of my diet and what I was plugging into myself.

[00:07:40] Once I curved sugar intake. I bet you, I was probably taking 250 milligrams eating. I just like there wasn't chocolate cake. I didn't like right. but once that stopped, it was incredible. How everything changed. My energy levels were different. I was moving better. I was more flexible. I wasn't bloated.

[00:07:58] I was afraid I was becoming [00:08:00] prediabetic. So the question is to obesity and all of that, I know we need to move and I do, and I know we need to do things, but how much of that starts with the diet? 

[00:08:09] Stephen Harrold: Oh, a lot of it does. I mean, obesity is an epidemic that's happening before our eyes that we're focused on, but I think we need to focus on even more.

[00:08:17] A lot of people know that it's not good, but we've kind of shifted also our understanding or our cultural norms for what's, you know, on normal weight which is, and some of the reasons to do that is to be, you know, body positive and make sure we're protecting people's mental health or, and entering good mental health.

[00:08:34] But from a medical standpoint, we still do have to pay attention to obesity. I mean, it increases the risk of multiple cancers. It increases the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Increases the risk of sleep apnea, depression, lung problems, et cetera. And yeah, diet is, I mean, it, it's still really, there's no tricks.

[00:08:50] It really does come down to burning more calories than you consume. And as far as a particular diet, the Mediterranean diet has been proven [00:09:00] over and over and over again, to be the best for our health. 

[00:09:02] Pete Waggoner: What does that consist of? 

[00:09:03] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. So in Mediterranean diet one of the reasons it's maybe not as well known is it's not like a fad diet or something that's promoted real strongly that has financial benefits around.

[00:09:13] It's not, you can't sell the Atkins bars or whatever for it. The Mediterranean diet is, it was just discovered that people that live around the Mediterranean sea are healthier and live longer. And it's because of what's naturally kind of grows in that area.

[00:09:26] So Mediterranean diet is a lot of vegetables. Some fruits, whole grains. White meats, like chicken and fish. Not a lot of processed foods or real fatty greasy foods. 

[00:09:36] Pete Waggoner: Okay. So great. I'm all about the fish. So there you go. 

[00:09:38] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. And the Mediterranean diet has meta analyses, you know, where they take a lot of studies over the years and look at them together and it's consistently every year proven to be the best. 

[00:09:49] Pete Waggoner: Well, let me give you real time. Note that I made. Yeah, I was at a concert at the Xcel energy center a couple weeks ago and I just kind of looked around [00:10:00] me. What was okay for seeing for the seat size 20 years ago?

[00:10:05] Yes. Which was giving you room? I could not believe this is not that I was judgey. It just, it jumped out at me cuz it was rod Stewart. So the age was old, right? Yeah. Yep. And I'm looking around and I'm saying, look at these, these people need two. It's amazing how. And when you brought that up, I thought, well, and I wasn't thinking in today's world of what it is that they weren't that huge.

[00:10:29] But they weren't fitting in the seats. Yeah. Which leads me to how we've changed our thought process of what, what is. So the question on all of this is how much is this occurring because of what you said about kind of body shaming type stuff. Part A. Part B is from COVID. I mean, a lot of people got bummed out.

[00:10:48] Jobs became different, just how we communicate, how things were, were just different. And I think, have you seen a spike since the COVID started two years ago? 

[00:10:58] Stephen Harrold: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Okay. [00:11:00] Yep. 

[00:11:00] Pete Waggoner: I mean that could have something to do with it. 

[00:11:01] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. People working from home, I mean, you saw a subset of some people that were able to change their lifestyle to be healthier because they weren't doing their long commutes to work cuz they're working from home. But yeah, a lot of people just are at home and bored and eating more or there's other entertainment they can't couldn't do and go out and do so they were eating more and yeah. Yeah. 

[00:11:21] Pete Waggoner: There were those that used it as an opportunity to get moving too. But I would say largely people, you know, and you mentioned about just psychological health. Yeah. Where that can play into it too. 

[00:11:32] Stephen Harrold: Yes. 

[00:11:32] Pete Waggoner: So if you have someone that comes in and their tip and the Toledo is pretty hot, right?

[00:11:38] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. 

[00:11:39] Pete Waggoner: How do you politely say, you know, in today's world offending, how do you go about that? And what do you suggest? 

[00:11:45] Stephen Harrold: That's a great question. Because I, I never, I extremely rarely actually use the word. Like I rarely say you're obese or you're fat or anything like that. It usually comes up in the rest of the [00:12:00] conversation when someone.

[00:12:01] I don't wanna take a, a pill for my blood pressure. What, what different can I do? Well, let's work at losing weight. I don't want to use the C P a P for my sleep apnea. What, what are my, what could I do for that? And as you go down the line of, Hey, people saying, I wanna do something naturally. A lot of the times the answer is losing weight.

[00:12:18] Pete Waggoner: It circles back. 

[00:12:19] Stephen Harrold: And that's great. I mean, I don't wanna prescribe pills if I don't have to. So, 

[00:12:23] Pete Waggoner: Help me understand a little bit further. That was kind of interesting to hear. So if you may need to take heart medication, really the best thing to do, if you don't want to have to have that is to get yourself whipped into shape and move appropriately, right? 

[00:12:35] Stephen Harrold: Yes. Yeah. 

[00:12:36] Pete Waggoner: What is your, boy, this is gonna be, you can say Obama if you want. Yeah. What is your opinion on that? Do you think medication in those regards is like, gotta do it, or do you feel like, you know, if you can avoid, it better. 

[00:12:52] Stephen Harrold: The only medication in family medicine that we really push or promote very often strictly based on, on [00:13:00] data or risk is the statin medications, the cholesterol lowering medications that have been proven with certain populations to decrease their risk of stroke or heart attack regardless of, of kind of any outside factors. There's a, there's a calculator that we use to determine risk of a heart attack in the next 10 years.

[00:13:18] I'm getting to your question, but to clarify that what I just said we do a, a 10 year risk of heart attack. And if it's above a certain percentage then, then we recommend statin medications. And that really is the only medicine that we push hard and say, Hey, regardless of everything else, this is what you should be doing.

[00:13:36] Otherwise, we give time people time to do lifestyle changes. If blood pressure is somewhat high, we say, Hey, we don't want your blood pressure to be this high long term, cuz it increases your risk of a heart attack or a stroke. But if you want to take six months and try to live a healthier lifestyle, And then monitor and come back, then we can do that.

[00:13:57] It's never something where we say you [00:14:00] absolutely have to take this blood pressure medicine or, or whatnot. 

[00:14:03] Pete Waggoner: So I got my I couldn't believe I got this couple days ago. My ARP yeah. Car 55. They come early. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, what is this? You know, but for people my age, let's say I do strength training which for me, I'm under the impression. And I would love to hear this for those that do that. Does that help lower cholesterol levels and triglycerides I've heard about that? Is that true or not true? Is that a good thing to do it?

[00:14:27] Stephen Harrold: Strength training definitely helps increase your metabolism. You know, cholesterol's hard, different people are physiologically different. So I've seen some people that their cholesterol goes down with strength training. Other people it's unchanged. It really can vary a lot. Depends. Same with diet. I mean, you can only lower your cholesterol so much by changing your diet. 

[00:14:47] Pete Waggoner: And some of this is genetic.

[00:14:48] Stephen Harrold: Exactly. You're it's the way you're made. Yes. 

[00:14:50] Pete Waggoner: Got it. And then cholesterol tests are just simply in blood work. 

[00:14:53] Stephen Harrold: A blood test. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. 

[00:14:54] Pete Waggoner: Okay. So let's talk about the benefits of your group of physician owned and [00:15:00] you know what, this is me outside looking in, how does that work?

[00:15:04] Because you've probably got a lot of, you're all like, like entrepreneurial. It's your business within this business. So you gotta, you work within the structure. But there's a lot of personalities coming together. I would assume. How does that all work? And what's the benefit and how do you guys do it here?

[00:15:21] Stephen Harrold: Yeah, I think the benefit is a physician own practice primarily is focused on taking good care of the patients. And because we're physicians, we have a deep understanding of what that means and all it's a complicated business. We're not making a soft drink or something like that.

[00:15:38] The physician is kind of both in the trenches as well as also the general of the army. You know, we kind of understand both ends of it. And I think because of that, the physicians are, are some of the best people at running a business that's related to medical care.

[00:15:51] Certainly we have, you know, administrators and we have a phenomenal CEO but physician owned is going to always primarily make [00:16:00] our decisions based on what's best for the patients. And yes, we have to be fiscally responsible, but we don't, we don't make our decisions based primarily upon that. And we don't have a board of non physicians that we have to answer to.

[00:16:12] Our structure actually is we have a board of, of its physicians that are, that are elected to our board and a president that's elected that oversee the organization.

[00:16:24] Pete Waggoner: That's awesome. 

[00:16:24] Stephen Harrold: So, yeah, it works really well. 

[00:16:26] Pete Waggoner: So what kind of collaboration do you guys have a lot of collaboration as a group then? 

[00:16:29] Stephen Harrold: Yeah, quite a bit. You know, I've only been here again since October of last year, but I've had a long term relationship with Hudson physicians and was affiliated with them years ago when I was a president of new Richmond clinic.

[00:16:41] We had a group called Western Wisconsin medical associates that was affiliated with Hudson physicians. So I've known and worked with these people for a long time and, and happy to be a part of 'em for sure. And. Yeah. So I've had prior experience in a similar clinic. 

[00:16:55] Pete Waggoner: And so this obviously has positive effect on, on [00:17:00] patients in their regard patient.

[00:17:01] Patient can feel it and put them first.

[00:17:02] Stephen Harrold: Yes. The patients can feel it. They, they, they should not feel treated like a number and, and it's a relationship based business.

[00:17:10] Pete Waggoner: You know, what's interesting is, when you say that, it's very true. However, when you come through the door and you turn right, this is a pretty big expansive space. And the next one, you know, across the highway's gonna be bigger. And then there's the new Richmond.

[00:17:23] But it's pretty, almost clinical, but it has personality.

[00:17:26] And I think that the patients and the people you serve know that. 

[00:17:29] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. And I think that's a challenge ahead ahead of us as, as we grow is how do you continue?

[00:17:34] Right. You know, it's much easier to you know, engender a culture when you have five family docs working in a clinic or whatnot, but that's something that we're cognizant of as we grow, we still want that. But we also know that really the primary work works in a, you know, in a clinic exam room between a doctor and a patient.

[00:17:54] And we know we can limit any impediments to continuing to do a really good job at that, which [00:18:00] is really what it's all about. 

[00:18:01] Pete Waggoner: It's really about that one on one, right? This is off the great question. I've always wanted to know this. What is the level of, oh, I got a lot of questions now.

[00:18:11] This just open up a whole door as mouth now. You're but your mind's churning. Oh, no. No, but I am curious. What is the level of knowledge that your typical patient will bring to you with communicating what they're feeling or what they're there to see you about? Is it decently high? Is it terrible?

[00:18:28] You know, on an over overview. How does that work? And does it help you with what you're doing? 

[00:18:34] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. 

[00:18:34] I would say for the most people, most of my patients is decently high. 

[00:18:38] Pete Waggoner: That's great.

[00:18:38] Stephen Harrold: You know, there are some people on, on ends of the spectrum as far as not really knowing exactly even what they're there for or very well educated.

[00:18:47] And I can kind of just say, well, what do you think we should do? But for the most part, people know what questions they ask and what what they're there for, what they're hoping to get out of it. 

[00:18:56] Pete Waggoner: Are there expectations ever put on you or any of the other [00:19:00] doctors that sometimes it's like, oh, I mean, I'm not a miracle worker here, but I mean, do you ever have that type of pressure?

[00:19:06] Stephen Harrold: Yes. Often when the expectations are high it's again, because the cost of healthcare is so high and so it's getting their money's worth. Sometimes expectations are high. A lot of the time when the expectations are high, it ends up being mental health related to be honest with you. They're just, you know, they need help.

[00:19:23] They they're in a state where they're really expecting to feel better. And, and sometimes they know that it's mental health related. Sometimes it's physical symptoms. That are leading, you know, they're, they're caused by their depression or anxiety. And they're feeling it physically and you have to kind of peel through those layers.

[00:19:41] Pete Waggoner: Well, that's really important, isn't it? 

[00:19:43] Let's talk about marijuana. This was one of our topics of discussion that was delivered here. Obviously being legalized and it's more common. And I think you and I spoke before we jumped on. Yeah. About, oh, you know, now it's the gummies, the 30 year olds are flipping their 70 year old parents and saying here, this will make you feel better.

[00:19:59] So[00:20:00] I've heard, you know, oh, you can't get addicted to it. But I know kids that started when they were 14 and are in their mid fifties and still doing it. So you tell me it's not addictive. Right. So can you explain, can you dispel that? 

[00:20:11] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. Yeah. This is probably a somewhat controversial talk.

[00:20:14] You know, if our topic, if you talk to all 50 clinicians here, you might get slightly different answers. 

[00:20:20] Pete Waggoner: Boy, I'd love to do that. 

[00:20:22] Stephen Harrold: Yeah. I think I I'm afraid or concerned that, you know, 20 years from now we're gonna look back and say, oh my gosh, what did we do? We created another, just like we've done with nicotine and opioids or prescription pain pills that at one point were, I don't wanna say supported by the government, but we were promoting pain as the fifth vital sign and saying that some narcotics were not addictive, et cetera.

[00:20:45] And then later on realized, oh my gosh, what have we done? I'm concerned that that might happen with marijuana. We do definitely see. So today's marijuana is not grandma's marijuana from the 1970s. I mean, they've been hybridizing those plants over the years, [00:21:00] higher and higher THC content. Now we can infuse the THC into gummies, et cetera.

[00:21:05] And We are seeing major physical addiction to marijuana and major withdrawal from marijuana. The patients that I have seen with withdrawal from marijuana have generally been, the ones I've seen have been generally men in their late teens and early twenties who have been vaping THC and they can get some pretty serious withdrawal.

[00:21:27] Sometimes it needs medications to help. There's also something called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, which is kind of an odd thing. And we see more and more often where patients who are addicted to marijuana, they start throwing up and they cannot stop throwing up unless they take a hot shower, get in a hot bath or take another hit of marijuana.

[00:21:49] I don't know physiologically why, but we see it more and more commonly. 

[00:21:52] Pete Waggoner: So this is obviously is a topic of conversation. Is this something you're seeing more and more of? 

[00:21:56] Stephen Harrold: Yes, it's become part of my discussion. [00:22:00] You know, when we see somebody for a preventive exam in high school or college, or going off to college, we'll have a list of things.

[00:22:07] We, I kind of call it the sex drugs and rock and roll discussion. Yeah. And, and this is definitely something that I'm now belaboring, the marijuana discussion. 

[00:22:16] Pete Waggoner: Well, it's interesting cuz there's almost two pronged attack there. There's the, I always told my kids, you know, alcohol can. Right. So anytime someone would have one of those initiations or whatever, and, you know, they died of alcohol and it's in the news. I'd always pull up the article or pull it up on my phone and hand it to my kids and say, I'm not kidding. And then they quit rolling their eyes when they realized it was real. Yeah. And then the same thing goes here for the whole marijuana perspective.

[00:22:44] I think, I think the thing that, what you, you mentioned interesting take on the vape because it's very concealable, you can't tell what it. You can access it. A friend of mine vapes, tobacco or nicotine. And I look at that and I'm [00:23:00] like, you're on this thing, like all the time.

[00:23:03] Stephen Harrold: And the nicotine content is way higher, not your grandma's cigarette. And same thing with the THC and the vape. 

[00:23:09] Pete Waggoner: What does THC do to the young mind? You know, I told you, we talked about that commercial. Yeah. 

[00:23:15] Stephen Harrold: I mean, in short, it just makes it stupid. I mean, it is a simple way to say it.

[00:23:18] It's not a way I would tell a patient, but I mean, there are some concerns. We've seen some studies that have said it increases your risk of lung cancers. I can't say with absolute definity, that's the case, but it increases risk of restlessness, depression, anxiety, other physical chronic abdominal pain diarrhea, and poor work performance, it's your lack of motivation. 

[00:23:40] Pete Waggoner: People have experienced that. 

[00:23:41] Stephen Harrold: Yes. 

[00:23:41] Pete Waggoner: I should say it, but it's just saying, oh, okay. Here we go. 

[00:23:44] So has the advent of it being used in medical purposes? Has that been sort of just a subtle little gateway to normalizing it?

[00:23:54] And in your opinion, does it help or is it overrated? 

[00:23:57] Stephen Harrold: You're probably correct that the advent of [00:24:00] prescription or medical reasons for prescribing marijuana possibly has led to it. And there are certainly prescription drugs that we prescribe that have side effects and problems as well.

[00:24:11] I mean, if I had a patient on, you know, 12 oral medications and they said, can if I get rid of these five and marijuana works, can I do it? I might be okay with that. I mean, I'm not trying to overly vilify it, but because it hasn't been legal for very long in many states, it's just not well studied yet.

[00:24:30] I mean, like when CBD, CBD isn't necessarily marijuana, but they'll list 40 things that it supposedly helps with. And I'm like, this is a fad and it's gonna fade away unless it truly gets proven to be. Well, you don't helpful. See it as much. No. It's already started fading somewhat, 

[00:24:45] correct?

[00:24:45] Pete Waggoner: Yeah. So the moral of the story is that if you're in your late teens, early twenties and you're partaking in marijuana use, you gotta be really careful because of the physical addictions and the withdrawals that you've experienced.[00:25:00] You might not have that hot shower. Right, right.

[00:25:02] It might not have good luck to you on that. And just think about that though, if you're putting it into your body and that's the result, that's not good at the end of the day. 

[00:25:11] We also talked a little bit about the obesity and how much that's really key and making sure you come in for routine preventive exams one of the things about that to get back to the preventative side of things. I think insurance companies look very favorably upon those types of visits.

[00:25:26] Is that correct? 

[00:25:26] Stephen Harrold: Yes. Yes. 

[00:25:27] Pete Waggoner: Like they want you to do that. 

[00:25:29] Stephen Harrold: Yes. 

[00:25:29] Pete Waggoner: You're gonna save them money in the long term. 

[00:25:31] Stephen Harrold: Yep. And I mean, there are even corporations that require their employees to come get an annual exam as part of their health program, because they know that, I don't wanna say the only reason, but it saves them money down the line if we can be preventive. 

[00:25:45] Pete Waggoner: They want you around, they don't wanna have to pay extra premiums. They don't want their stuff to go up. 

[00:25:49] Stephen Harrold: Yep. And then they want healthy employees. 

[00:25:51] Pete Waggoner: Yeah. They want you effective and you're there for a reason. Yes. Let's talk about the new Richmond facility right now, opening on the sixth. So if you could gimme the [00:26:00] hours of, is it a Monday, Friday, Monday, Saturday. What type of hours are you gonna have there? 

[00:26:03] Stephen Harrold: Sure. Yes. So we'll be opening February 6th, 2023. We'll have starting with five family physicians and then some specialties there as well. We'll have podiatry, general surgery and, and some other specialties. Hours well, probably within a year or less, ballpark, we'll start urgent care as well. So that'll be more extended hours, probably, you know, ballpark 7:30 AM to 9:00 PM. But initially we'll start with Monday through Thursday. 7:30 AM to 7:00 PM.

[00:26:33] Friday will be 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM, and then we will add Saturday hours fairly quickly as well. Kind of once we get ramped up and get our feet unders.

[00:26:42] Pete Waggoner: You have an x-ray in a lab, right? 

[00:26:44] Stephen Harrold: Yeah, we'll have, so we're a little more than a clinic. Where are we will be a medical center. So we'll have a full lab where we do laboratories in-house, x-ray, mammogram, ultrasound.

[00:26:55] And then again, quite a few specialties that come through there, pretty close to home. Yeah, I think it's I'll [00:27:00] go through two stop lights. I think so. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Walk into work seven miles or so. 

[00:27:03] Pete Waggoner: Yeah, that's fantastic. Yeah. Wow. Well maybe not walking for seven miles, but, that's perfect. Well, that's great stuff.

[00:27:10] And I think this has been most informative. 

[00:27:13] Stephen Harrold: Good. Thanks. 

[00:27:14] Pete Waggoner: And I appreciate your time here today and thanks for all the good work you do here at Hudson physicians soon to be new Richmond, right? Yes. And then eventually the other physicians that will be coming on board, there will be announced. Yes.

[00:27:25] For. Yes. We know you are there. 

[00:27:27] Stephen Harrold: Yes. Myself and, and Dr. Joe Dietzler will be there. And then, yeah, we'll have, we'll likely have a few more joining us here and then that's wonderful. December or January, hopefully.

[00:27:35] Pete Waggoner: That's excellent. February 6th. That shows up. Yeah. Coming fast. Exciting stuff. Dr. Harold, enjoy your weekend. It's gonna be beautiful one out there. Thank you. You too. Thank you. That's gonna do it for this edition of optimal health, along with Dr. Harold and Pete Wagner so long everybody.