Primary Care Testing: COPD
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a chronic condition characterized by poor airflow into your lungs. Though your doctor can control the symptoms and slow its onset, there is no cure and the disease typically worsens over time. COPD patients encounter chronic cough, shortness of breath, and excessive sputum production. Most COPD cases develop after age 65. Smoking is the leading cause of COPD, though other long-term exposure to air pollution may also cause COPD. Unlike Asthma, medications do not significantly improve air flow for COPD patients. Nevertheless there are many treatment options to control COPD and early detection can slow its progression.
Your primary care physician can administer a relatively simple office-based test called a “Pulmonary Function Test (PFT)” to detect and monitor COPD. A PFT utilizes a machine, called a spirometer, to measure the airflow out of your lungs. The patient blows as hard as she can into a tube connected to the spirometer. The spirometer then measures the efficiency of the exhaled breath. The patient often has to make more than one attempt for the machine to register an accurate reading. Some patients may experience dizziness after several attempts. The test takes no more than 10 minutes and is usually administered by a medical assistant. The spirometer will then generate a report measuring the patient’s airflow. Many Doctors also administer a version of the test where they repeat the procedure after administering respiratory medication to measure whether the medication improved airflow. PFTs are used to not only detect or confirm COPD, they’re also used to monitor the disease’s progression over time.
PFTs are not intended to be used as a screening tool in healthy patients. However patients with any past history of smoking should be screened. So should any patients showing COPD-like symptoms, such as a “wet” cough that lasts more than 3 months or often feeling “out of breath”. All CRMA primary care offices offer PFT testing. If you believe you may be at risk for COPD, ask your primary care physician if a PFT test would be appropriate.
Meet the Nurse Practitioner (NP): Francina Perry
Francina Perry is part of CRMA’s team of NPs providing primary care at the Marlboro location. She trained in Family Medicine at UMass Lowell and graduated with honors. Nurse Practitioners are called “Advanced Practice Nurses” because they typically receive 2 years of additional training beyond their traditional Registered Nurse training. Many NPs have extensive experience working as RNs prior to beginning their NP training. They are licensed and accredited to treat patients in collaboration with a supervising physician. “Cina” credits her choice to become an NP to her own experience as a patient of a nurse practitioner. When asked why she chose her career path, Francina explained, “I had a personal experience with an NP that changed my life. I was going through a tough time and the NP asked me “what was going on in my life”. She cared about me as a person and didn’t just treat the problem. She helped me through a difficult time. That is when I decided I wanted to be an NP and help people the way she helped me.”
Nurse practitioners work as part of care team with the physicians. Francina consults with Dr. Flores and other Marlborough physicians about every patient. Her schedule is a mix of annual physicals, preventive services, chronic disease checkups, and same-day sick visits. She is tri-lingual, speaking English, Spanish and Portuguese. On a personal note, Francina has been married 9 years and is the mother of two young boys.
Francina cites education and prevention as the areas of healthcare that are most important to her. She states, “I believe there is power in knowledge and I always teach my patients how to take care of themselves”. Francina is available to see patients at 246 Maple Street in Marlboro. Appointments may be scheduled by calling (508) 787-3482.
CRMA Welcomes Maria Cancel, Licensed Mental Health Counselor
CRMA is pleased to announce the addition of Maria Cancel, LMHC to the 600 Worcester Road Framingham location, joining Dr. Aish and Ribeiro. She accepts most of the major insurance plans and has flexible office hours. If you would like to make an appointment, please call (508)816‐9893.
Urgent Care Center open 7 days a week
Charles River Medical Urgent Care is open Monday to Friday 4:30pm-8:00pm and Saturday/Sunday 9:30am-4:00pm, located at 571 Union Ave, Framingham. This is not a walk in clinic; patients are seen by appointment so please call first. This helps ensure you won’t have to wait. For non-emergent conditions, this may be a better option than the emergency room since you’ll likely encounter less wait time and lower copayments. In addition, your Charles River medical records will be available to the Nurse Practitioner you are seeing that day, for better continuity of care. The Urgent Care phone number is 508-665-4393.
