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Health & Wellness Center Hours
Monday - Friday 8am - 8pm
*Saturday 9am - 5pm
*Saturday hours reserved for non-firefighter physicals,
Primary Care and Urgent Care visits.
Closed 3pm-6pm 1st Wednesday of each month for training
Tenet Hospitals
UHC Network Status
It has come to our attention that Tenet Hospitals and United Health Care (UHC) are in negotiations over the network contract that expires on August 1, 2014. While we are hopeful that negotiations will be successful, we must inform you that if they are not, several local hospitals (see list below) will no longer be in network. Therefore, stays at these facilities may cost you and the Fund significantly more money.
If you have a scheduled procedure or stay at a Tenet facility, we encourage you to pay close attention to these negotiations as it could affect your out of pocket expenses.
Failed contract negotiations between Tenet and UHC will affect all Tenant facilities across the country and providers that are under their umbrella.
We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed. Tenet facilities account for almost half of the hospitals in PBC and neighboring counties. Please be extra vigilant as you seek medical care after August 1st if contract negotiations should fail.
Tenet Hospitals in Palm Beach County
Delray Medical Center
West Boca Medical Center
Good Samaritan Medical Center
St. Mary’s Medical Center
Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center
Other Local Hospitals in Tenet System
Florida Medical Center
Coral Gables Hospital
Palmetto General Hospital
Hialeah Hospital
North Shore Medical Center
Print Tenet Hospital Letter
Health & Wellness Coordinator
The Board of Trustees of the Employee Benefits Fund is proud to introduce the newest member of the Health & Wellness Center staff. Melissa Drappi, RN. Melissa will fill the role of Health & Wellness Coordinator and will be working with patients one on one to help manage long term chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, COPD, and depression just to name a few. Melissa will also be available to assist with other health issues such as weight loss, smoking cessation and maternity management.
We are very excited to finally be able to offer these services in house and give you the opportunity to sit face to face with such a knowledgeable individual such as Melissa who has many years experience in helping patients manage their health issues.
 We encourage you to reach out to Melissa and schedule a time to sit with her and go over your particular situation, she is available Monday – Friday 8:30am – 5:00pm and can be reach through the main number 561-969-6663.
Melissa is a University of Delaware alumna, and brings a wealth of experience to the Palm Beach County Fire Fighters Health & Wellness Center. With 10 years of clinical nursing experience her professional career has included staff nurse positions in Labor & Delivery, Operating Room & Behavioral Health Units followed by school health. Most Recently, Melissa worked as a Clinical Nurse Educator for a major pharmaceutical company. Education of patients, families and other health care professionals has been a constant thread throughout her career. As the Health & Wellness Coordinator Melissa will give you the opportunity to work one-on-one with a personal health coach and create an individualized action plan. Whether you want to manage stress, lose weight, improve fitness and nutrition or quit smoking she will provide you with the information and encouragement you are looking for. The coaching sessions are flexible for your busy schedule and are conducted onsite, via the telephone or through e-mail. If you are interested in creating a dynamic partnership with someone who can help you reach your short and long term wellness goals, this program is for you.
When Melissa is not at the Fire Fighters Health & Wellness Center she enjoys spending time with her husband and two young sons as well as digital photography, practicing yoga and taking walks.
Melissa is a member of the National Nurse’s Association as well as the Florida Nurse’s Association.
MAMMOGRAM BUS RETURNS
It is recommended that women over 40 get annual mammograms as their first defense in detecting breast cancer. The Benefits Fund has arranged for Jupiter Medical Center to offer mammograms to our participants via their Wellness in Motion Mobile Mammogram Bus! For women over 40 years of age, no prescription is required.
Jupiter Medical Center's Wellness in Motion invites you to their Mammography Day, which is scheduled from 8am - 5pm on:
July 21, 2014
August 28, 2014
September 18, 2014
The bus will be located at our office:
Palm Beach County Firefighters Employee Benefits Fund Clinic
7240 7th Place North
West Palm Beach, FL 33411.
Wellness in Motion mobile unit will be parked in the front parking lot for the event. There is no cost to participants of the Fund and the entire process, registration and exam, takes about 30 minutes.
Appointments must be scheduled in advance by calling 561-263-4636.
New Computed Tomography (CT)
Placed In Service
On Friday, February 28, 2014, The Health & Wellness Center's brand new GE 64 slice CT scanner went operational. All of the staff was excited as the first patients were being scanned on GE's latest platform offering some of the lowest doses of radiation with the highest speeds for scanning. The technology advancements available today are just absolutely amazing. For anyone who had a full body scan in the past, you can compare upwards of 20 millisieverts of radiation and about 30 minutes on the scanner then, to approximately 4 millisieverts today accomplished in approximately 2 minutes. It takes more time to get you situated on the table than the actual scan. And, as far as image quality, there is absolutely no comparison. When speaking to the radiologist shortly after he received the first images, he was stunned by the image quality we were sending him.
The Center has the ability to scan with or without contrast, oral and IV. This scanners specialized feature includes special bone, cardiac and neurological, and vessel studies. And as with all imagining modalities at the Health & Wellness Center all studies are read by Board certified Radiologist that specializes in the particular modality and subspecialty.
The CT will be operational from 8am - 4:30pm Monday through Friday. For now we are trying to schedule full body scan patients, which include a carotid Ultra Sound in the afternoons when the clinic is less busy. Cardiac scans and other contrasted studies will be handled on an as needed basis.
We do not have records from the previous vendor of the body scans, and therefore we do not know when your previous scan was done. Please continue to stand by the recommendation that you not have a full body scan more than once in any 5 year period.
We will accept outside orders for CT scans, but as with outside lab orders we would like to have a copy of the order from the prescribing physician at least 24 hours prior to your appointment.
When making an appointment for any CT make sure we have your correct email as we will email you instructions so that you may properly prepare for your particular scan.
Call the appointment desk @ 561-969-6663 or email them at appointments@myffbenefits.com.
Health & Wellness Center
Pharmacy Contact Information
The PBC FF's Health & Wellness Center Pharmacy now has its own email and phone number. Any questions about prescriptions or prescription refill requests should go through one of these methods.
Also I would like to introduce Chrystal Estremera our pharmacy tech; many of you know Chrystal from the front desk where she was helping out until the pharmacy became a reality.
Please feel free to contact Chrystal about anything pharmacy related.
Pharmacy Direct Line 561-337-3353
Pharmacy Email - pharmacy@myffbenefits.com
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