Presentation Focuses on Early Detection and New Treatments
Hattiesburg Clinic recently co-sponsored the Area Development Partnership’s (ADP) Accelerate Luncheon with Forrest General Hospital, where the focus was advancements in health care.
One of the keynote speakers at the event was Ronald L. Schwartz, MD, CPI, a physician with Hattiesburg Clinic Memory Center and Hattiesburg Clinic Neurology. Dr. Schwartz spoke to the attendees about his work surrounding Alzheimer’s disease. He discussed the importance of early intervention, as well as some prevention strategies involving changes in diet, mental and physical activity, education and more.
“Early detection is key when it comes to treating Alzheimer’s,” Schwartz said. “If there is only one thing you take away from this today, it is ‘Don’t wait.’ If you notice any impairment, it is better to get tested and told you are fine than to put it off until it is too late.”
Schwartz also detailed the work being done at Memory Center to help advance Alzheimer’s care, most notably in the use of clinical trials and Leqembi®, a new drug used to treat the disease.
“This is breakthrough therapy,” Schwartz said of Leqembi. “We are in a new age of treating Alzheimer’s disease.”
Schwartz then looked to the future, addressing research and clinical trials available for Alzheimer’s disease – Retain, which aims to prevent Alzheimer’s in cognitively unimpaired patients and the Cognito Hope Study, which is a non-invasive study with no medications that hopes to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s.
Kristy Gould, Director of Marketing & Communications at Hattiesburg Clinic, provided sponsor remarks about the strides Hattiesburg Clinic has made in the past year, which included the addition of 29 physicians and the expansion of services to Flowood, Miss. She also discussed involvement in the community, plans for additional expansions in 2024 and the clinic’s Epic Gold Star Level 10 rating – an achievement held by only four Epic health systems worldwide.
“As you live here, you work here and you care for your families here, you know that we are caring for our patients at the optimal level – at the top one percent,” Gould said. “That is important to us, because that is important to you.”
Hattiesburg Clinic also provided a door prize at the event, which was won by Kelsea Weldon with Senior Helpers. The door prize featured Hattiesburg Clinic-branded items and coffee from local roastery Grin Coffee.
Hattiesburg Clinic was honored to partner with the ADP to sponsor this event and is proud to be part of the effort to move health care forward in the Pine Belt.
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About Hattiesburg Clinic:
Hattiesburg Clinic is Mississippi’s largest privately-owned, multispecialty clinic. More than 60 years after its beginning, the clinic has grown to over 450 physicians and providers, caring for patients in more than 17 counties in South Mississippi. Along with over 2,500 professional staff employees, these physicians and providers come together for a common purpose, to serve the over 500,000 community members who live and work in South Mississippi every day.
