Talked with Dr. Monica Walker, T. Leroy Jefferson Medical Society.  As part of their community education/outreach Dr. Walker talked about mentoring students, collaberation with other medical professionals, serving underserverd populations, what she does as a Family Medicine Practioner. Primary care docs look at the entire person and get a complete history to help with diagnosis and treatment. She also does a lot of work with the Sickle Cell Foundation of Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast. Sickle Cell Disease is a genetic blood disorder that can be very painful, cause life threatening complications such as strokes, infections, and organ damage.  It affects the red blood cells.  The cells normally look like a donut but with sickle cell it changes to a sickle shape so creates difficulty moving through blood vessels/delivering oxygen.  A lot of people have the sickle cell trait and don't know.  Dr. Walker works with local hematologists and the foundation to help folks get free testing so they know their status. For more info listeners are encouraged to reach out to Dr. Walker at 561-844-7699 if they have any questions or go to the websites.  www.sicklecellpbc.org or www.tljmedicalsociety.org.
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