WOLMED Pain Management Welcomes Dr. Andrew Garrett, DC

WOLMED Pain Management is happy to announce the addition of its newest Denton, TX doctor, Dr. Andrew Garrett, DC.  Dr. Garrett is a Chiropractor who earned his bachelor's degree in Public Health from the University of Texas at El Paso before completing Chiropractic college at Parker College of Chiropractic, in Dallas, TX. 

Dr. Andrew Garrett, DC

 Since graduating Chiropractic college, Dr. Garrett has dedicated his practice to helping injured workers.  His Texas Workers Compensation experience includes thorough physical exams, chiropractic manipulations, nerve conduction velocity studies, functional capacity evaluations, impairment ratings, work hardening, work conditioning, and chronic pain management.  Dr. Garrett has also testified in disputed cases to help patients get the treatment they need when insurance carriers initially deny their claims. 

As an expert in Texas Workers Compensation, Dr. Garrett does peer reviews with insurance carrier doctors and obtians preauthorization of needed workers comp treatments from insurance carriers.  He is also involved in public education on various healthcare issues and is skilled at diagnosing and treating patients with all types of work-related injuries.

Dr. Garrett served as President of a multidisciplinary workers' compensation / personal injury clinic for the last two and a half years, but has recently moved back to Denton, TX where he now works full time for WOLMED Medical.  He works Tuesday thru Saturday helping people with work injuries and injuries resutling from auto accidents.  He welcomes same-day appointments and walk-in appointments.  If you have been hurt in a car wreck or have suffered a workers compensation injury, call today to make an appointment with Dr. Garrett.  He is ready to be your doctor.

For more information about the services offered at WOLMED Medical, visit us online at http://www.wolmed.com/.  To make an appointment today, call (940) 484-7000.

Car Wrecks in the Rain

Here in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area, we are experiencing very heavy rain fall that is causing an extremely high number of car accidents.  I've been driving back and forth from Denton to Dallas for the last couple of weeks and I've seen a lot of car wrecks.  Most of those were on rainy days.  It seems like some people forget how to drive when it's raining.  They are tense from nervousness.  The heavy rains make for low visibility.  Other cars are weaving in and out of traffic.  Some people don't feel the need to slow down.  Other people don't feel the need to speed up.  And - Oprah would be very upset at the number of people who won't put down their phone, no matter how bad the weather gets.  Texting while driving and talking on the phone are bad enough on sunny days, but on rainy days, even during horrible downpours - really???

Statistically, most auto accidents in Texas happen on clear and sunny days.  That's not a surprise since most Texas days are clear and sunny.  On those rainy days though, car accidents seem to spike.  My advice to all drivers, especially on rainy days:  slow down and pay attention to the road.

Looking down at the radio?  Crash!

Talking on the phone?  Crash!

Just have to send that text message?  Crash!

Speed limits aren't for you?  Crash!

Need to save 2 minutes by weaving in an out of traffic?  Crash!

Surfing the web on your iPhone?  Crash!

Crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash!!!  Now what?  Your hurt - badly injured.  Your car's a wreck now.  Since your hurt, you have to miss work.  You call a personal injury lawyer to deal with the auto insurance and you need a doctor (not necessarily in that order of course).  Don't you hope that doctor will work with your attorney?  You sure better.  Otherwise, that car wreck is going to be an even bigger hassle than you ever imagined.

In many cases, the story only gets worse from here.  So, if you were crashed in a car wreck by an impatient or distracted driver, you need to give WOL+MED Medical a call in Denton and Dallas, TX.  You may be in pain, but there's no reason the process of getting better should be an even bigger pain.  WOLMED doctors work closely with auto injury lawyers and we're excellent at treating your injuries and documenting your case in a way that helps your attorney get the best possible outcome on your legal case while you're getting the best possible outcome in your medical care.

Choose WOLMED for your auto injury recovery.  We take the pain out of the process and we want to be your doctor.

With that said - to all of you impatient and distracted drivers out there:  slow down, put down your phone, and keep your eyes on the road.

WOLMED for Auto Injuries

Usually, when a person is hurt in a car wreck, their first thought (after contacting their auto insurance company) is to contact a personal injury lawyer.  Even though they have an auto INJURY, they think lawyer first and doctor sometime later.  Don't get me wrong - personal injury attorneys are great and valuable after you're in a car wreck.  We work with lots of PI attorneys at WOLMED.  However, the backbone of personal injury is the need for recovery.  What would happen if all those people who were hurt in a car wreck just took the legal route and got reimbursed for their pain, suffering and inconvenience, but never saw a doctor and got therapy to get better?  We would have millions of potentially disabled people.

We also believe that dollar amounts in settlements are higher when injured patients come to us for personal injury treatment.  WOLMED doctors are experts in documenting personal injury cases so that you can get better and get a fair settlement.  Attorneys prefer our medical records over other doctors because they are so detailed that insurance adjusters are able to give better settlements.  Our doctors document the mechanism of injury in the initial history and physical and throughout treatment, they document the duration and seriousness of all of your symptoms.  We're able to accurately document both the physical and symptom diagnoses on claim forms and in documentation to help adjusters give fair settlements.

Examples of physical diagnoses are:  lumbar strain, contusion, herniated disk, knee strain, rotator cuff tear, etc.  Symptom diagnoses are things like:  sleep disturbance, headaches, dizziness, muscle spasm, and more.  Being able to fully document all of these areas is critically important to the outcome to a personal injury case.

WOLMED patients achieve excellent outcomes in all aspects of their auto injury.  If you or anyone you know was hurt in an auto accident, give WOLMED a call.  You may also need a personal injury attorney.  If you don't know who to call for legal advice, we can recommend an attorney to you.  At WOLMED, we can help you with every aspect of your auto injury.  We want to be your doctor.

Follow up to How do You Find a Doctor on the Internet

A while back I talked about all the different ways that a person might search for a doctor on the internet. Then, I decided to just ask our patients how they would do it. Here are some of the suggestions I received.

Accident Injury Doctors
Workers Comp Physicians Denton
Doctors in Denton
Back Pain Relief
Personal Injury Doctors
Back & Neck Pain
WOLMED
Back Pain
Personal Injuries
Pain Management Doctors
Doctors in Denton for Car Wrecks
Back Specialist

Smart companies care about what their customers think. I certainly care what my patients think. So, to everyone who responded to my questionnaire - thank you. I'll start using your ideas when I'm working on internet marketing.

Chris Helms
Director of Operations
WOL+MED

Postal Workers Doctor

WOLMED treats patients who were injured working for the post office. Since 2008, the medical doctors at WOLMED have treated 134 people who work for the United States Postal Service. Federal workers comp has different rules than state workers comp. A doctor who treats patients under the Department of Labor must be more highly specialized in those federal rules than doctors who treat only state workers comp.

Federal workers comp has special forms that must be filled out and submitted to the DOL and to the employer. If these forms are not filled out correctly and on-time, it could cause serious problems for the injured worker, including loss of pay, loss of injury benefits, and loss of job.

If you're hurt at work for the post office, you need to choose your doctor very carefully. There are a lot of really good doctors out there, but if your doctor doesn't specialize in federal workers comp and doesn't understand the rules that injured postal employees and other injured federal workers must follow, you could have a lot of problems - other than the injury itself.

WOLMED does specialize in federal workers compensation. We understand the rules set forth by the Department of Labor and we pride ourselves in having excellent patient outcomes and excellent patient satisfaction scores. Our patients get better. They are happy. And - they don't experience the hassles that are possible when the doctor isn't a federal workers comp expert.

If you or someone you know was injured working for the post office or any other federal agency, choose WOLMED for the treatment of your federal workers comp injury.

We want to be your doctor!

How Do You Find a Doctor on the Internet?

I searched Google to find all the ways WOLMED shows up on page 1 when searching for a doctor who does pain management or who treats Texas Workers Comp injuries and auto injuries from car wrecks. Below are the results of what I found.

Pain Management Dallas - We were at the bottom of page 1.
Texas Workers Comp - We were not listed on page 1.
Workers Comp Texas - We were not listed on page 1.
Workers Comp Denton - We had 2 listings at the top of page 1.
Workers Comp Dallas - We were #3 on page 1.
Pain Denton - We were 1st on the Google map and 1st on the search list on page 1.
Back Pain Denton - We were at the top of page 1.
Back Pain Dallas - Not on page 1.
Neck Pain Denton - We were at the top of page 1.
Neck Pain Dallas - Bottom of page 1.
Car Wreck Doctors - We were #2 on page 1.
Auto Injuries Denton - Top of page 1.
USPS Injuries Denton - We had the top 2 listings on page 1.

So, just in case you are looking for a doctor who treats work injuries and auto injuries and who accepts Texas Workers Comp insurance, these are just some of the ways you can find WOLMED when searching Google. WOLMED can also be found when searching on Yahoo and Bing.

If you have friends of family who were hurt at work or in a car wreck, tell them to call WOLMED. We are also on Facebook, so follow us there.

What words would you type if you were going to search for a doctor on the internet? Leave me some feedback and let me know.

Robert Helsten, MD - Denton, TX

Robert Helsten, MD was born in Germany on April 8, 1951. At 26 years of age, he graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. Dr. Helsten has practiced medicine as a medical doctor for over 30 years.

Dr. Helsten is a very funny guy and a compassionate doctor. He makes his patients laugh and gets them well. The employees at WOL+MED love to see Dr. Helsten as their doctor too. As a medical doctor at WOLMED Medical, Dr. Helsten is in high demand.

Dr. Helsten has a very wide range of great experience that he brings to his patients. He has worked as an emergency room doctor for several years along with an enormous amount of time spent working in various family practice settings. He currently specializes in multiple medical practice areas including: Pain Management, Physical Medicine, Workers' Compensation, Auto Injuries, Occupational Medicine, and Family Practice.

Dr. Helsten's pain management practice is internationally accredited by CARF, which stands for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. He is also a Diplomat of the American Academy of Pain Management. With these credentials, Dr. Helsten maintains the highest standards of practice in Texas Workers Compensation and Chronic Pain Management.

In Texas Workers Comp, Dr. Helsten is certified, thru the State of Texas, to perform impairment ratings for injured workers. Certification is required to perform impairment ratings under Texas Workers Comp.

Dr. Helsten is on several state certified 1305 Workers Compensation networks. As a result, Dr. Helsten can help patients who are inside of networks as well as any other patients who are injured at work and need to see a Medical Doctor to get better. Dr. Helsten also specializes in the treatment of injured federal employees such as those who were injured working for the United States Postal Service (USPS), the VA Hospital, FEMA, TSA, and other branches of the Federal Government.

If you, a loved one, or a coworker were injured at work or in a car wreck, or if you are sick and need to see a doctor, come see Dr. Helsten. He always welcomes new patients and he always has same-day appointments available so that he can see you right away. He's a great and caring doctor. Give Dr. Helsten a try.

To make an appointment, call (940) 484-7000 or request an appointment on our web site, www.wolmed.com.

CARF Accredited Pain Management

Most people have no idea what CARF is. Lots of medical doctors and chiropractors don't even know. CARF stands for Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. Simply put, CARF is the "Gold Standard" in rehabilitation. The Texas Division of Workers Comp and Texas Department of Insurance know the value of CARF. They require preauthorization for pain management for all medical clinics that are not CARF accredited. When you have CARF, it is well understood that the doctor is operating at a higher level than everyone else.

In order to achieve maximum CARF accreditation, the doctor and staff must go through a rigorous inspection of it services, business operations, and patient outcomes. We literally passed hundreds of standards in order to achieve our last 3 maximum CARF accreditations. So, what kinds of standards are required for CARF organizations?

1. Patient Outcomes and Satisfaction - How well did the program work for patients and how much did patients enjoy their experience.

2. Policies and Procedures - The clinic must have the highest level of policies and procedures, setting them apart from its peers.

3. Billing Practices - We NEVER bill for anything we don't actually provide for patients and we document our services at the highest level.

4. Qualified Staff - Our medical doctors are Diplomats of the American Academy of Pain Management and they are required to meet a certain number of continuing education hours each year.

5. Multi-Disciplinary Staff - We are required to employ a variety of healthcare professionals. We have Medical Doctors, Chiropractors, Physicians Assistants, Licensed Counselors, Licensed Psychologists, Kinesiologists, and Massage Therapists.

6. Safety - We keep a safe clinical environment, maintain high-level safety policies and procedures, and even conduct drills and audits of our safety practices on a regular basis.

7. Accessibility - CARF loves this part about us the most! We remove all barriers for patients to participate in Pain Management. This includes everything including lodging and transportation during pain management. We also help with childcare, provide lunches, along with virtually anything else someone might need help with to gain entry into the program.

8. Confidentiality - We follow very strict policies and guidelines for patient confidentiality. We believe that respect for our patients must include more than adequate confidentiality procedures.

9. Human Resources - We have highly qualified staff who are very well trained, and who have access to the resources they need to remain that way.

10. Individualized Treatment - Each participant in a CARF Pain Management Program receives an individualized approach to recovery. We use cardio exercise, strengthening, relaxation, biofeedback, work-specific job simulation, group and individualized education, group and individualized counseling (as needed), medication management, occupational re-training (as needed), job skills training, and more based on individualized needs.

CARF is the "Gold Standard". When you're suffering from work injuries that cause back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, and pain in other areas, you should consider a CARF Accredited Pain Management Program. Give WOLMED Medical a Call. We want to help. We want to be your doctor.

Pain Management for Back Pain

Do you suffer from back pain? Well, you're not alone. Back pain is one of the top reasons people report as the cause of pain. Many solutions are out there for the treatment of back pain. Epidural Steroid Injections (ESI's) are pain injections directly to the area of the spine that has pain. The doctor uses flurographic imaging to pin-point the exact area and prevent harm to the spinal canal.

Physical Therapy is another great way to reduce back pain. Exercise such as stretching, cardiovascular training, and strength training has been proven to reduce the symptoms of back pain. Experts in rehabilitation will be able to teach you to use proper body mechanics during exercise and while working so that you do not re-injure yourself during these activities.

CARF Pain Management is another excellent way to control back pain. This program combines exercise, injury education, daily activity retraining, biofeedback, relaxation training, and more.

If you live far away, we can provide you with transportation and/or lodging while you're actively participating in the pain management program. We have medical doctors and chiropractors who are experts in treating back pain.

We have offices in Denton and Dallas, TX. We are open Monday thru Friday, 7am to 8am and Saturdays 7am to 4pm. We welcome same-day appointments and we always have available appointment times to help you.

Call us today! Denton: (940) 484-7000, Dallas: (972) 572-5000.

Visit us on the web at http://www.wolmed.com.

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