Brain Matters

As the old adage goes, two heads are better than one. In the field of medicine, when it comes to heads, it’s “the more the merrier.”

Since November 2005, the Copeman Healthcare Centre has been offering team-based, multi-disciplinary health care for the diagnosis and treatment of complex disease — while using these same medical experts to provide advanced programs of prevention. The centre first opened in Vancouver and then added a twin clinic in Calgary in September of 2008, with one more to come in Edmonton.

At a Copeman Centre, instead of a general practitioner who refers you to specialists whose waiting lists extend for months, expert physicians combine their talents with the services of dietitians, kinesiologists, specialized nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and others. Patients have the benefit of all their answers being in one place with medical professionals who communicate with each other daily. A personal “health assistant” co-ordinates appointments, referrals, proactive tests and other activities so that patients don’t have to worry about the details.  An annual fee covers costs not subsidized by the provincial government and, from there, the path to strong, well-rounded health care begins.

According to founder and CEO Don Copeman, “Although we deal with very complex medical issues and we are there for our patients when episodic problems occur, the goal of the centre is really to help members develop a lifestyle that nourishes them so diversely and thoroughly that health problems become as unlikely as possible.”
It’s preventative medicine that many doctors in Canada do not have time for given their volume of patients. But at a Copeman Centre, every patient is given devout attention — even if it requires an hour-long meeting with all the specialists.

“We are in the business of building resilience,” adds Copeman. “Stamina, strength, balance, cardiovascular health, weight control, et cetera. We’re doing all the things that are known statistically to decrease the risk of you getting major chronic disease or cancer.

“At the end of the day, even though we’re a very allopathic, ‘white-coat’ medicine clinic, we are trying to use lifestyle as a primary therapy to prevent many diseases.”

Frank Danielson, a 43-year-old senior financial planner, has been a member since the centre’s first year and encourages everyone to try Copeman’s proactive approach.

“My health is in fantastic shape,” he says. “We focus on things I can do and more sort of mentoring or coaching around the things I can have an impact on, instead of dealing with ‘Here’s your symptoms so take this and do these things.’”

Danielson is also quick to commend the centre for its genuine customer relations, a pleasantry that’s sometimes lacking in the hurried world of public health care.

“It’s the level of attention,” he says. “That extra time in a meeting, not really being slotted in for 15 minutes.”
“Orientation for our staff begins with empathy and understanding and the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes,” Copeman explains.

From amiability to assessment, the Copeman Centre’s staff are indeed thorough, but there’s a distinct methodology enlightening the centre’s approach — and it has recently expanded.

The centre breaks health down into three aspects: physical care, psychological care and, a new aspect, brain care. This approach is not only unprecedented in its comprehensiveness, but with the addition of brain care, it’s on the brink of medical revolution.

BRAIN CARE
“This is a new way of looking at health that you won’t find advocated almost anywhere in the world,” Copeman boldly says. “You will find people over the years who talk about integrating mind and body health care, but they’re usually thinking in terms of psychological health. Brain health is one thing people really neglect.”

The Copeman Centre’s director of neuropsychology, Dr. Cirelle Rosenblatt, explains that studies have only recently revealed the power of the brain in preventative medicine. Contrary to once-popular belief, our brains cells aren’t dying from the day we’re born.
“The ability for the brain to adapt — to change, to grow, to generate new brain cells — is something that goes well beyond our previously thought limitations of two, five, 12 or 25 years old,” Rosenblatt says. “Our brains are plastic, as [scientists] like to refer to them.”

The Copeman Centre is therefore stepping in to keep everyone healthy in mind. Quality of life doesn’t just come from psychological and physical health; it’s deeply rooted in mental capability.

“Your memories, for example, define who you are as a person,” Copeman says. “They define your personality and how you express your spirituality and everything else. You need to have your brain healthy as well. It’s too simple to look just at physical health.”

Starting with a three-hour Cognitive Screen and Benchmark Assessment (CSBA), the Copeman Centre’s brain care program analyzes your brain in numerous areas like attention span, language skills and sensory perception. These assessments provide a “benchmark” for your brain’s strengths and weaknesses. From there, your neuropsychologist can develop a program of physical exercise, nutrition, stress management and sleep hygiene all directed for your brain’s specific needs.

But the centrepiece of the program is the “neurobics,” a Copeman-coined term for software, game and puzzle-based exercises. The software, Fitbrains, can be accessed from home on the Internet and offers a blend of neuropsychological exercises with achievement-based play — designed by real gamers — to keep participants motivated. It’s like the Guitar Hero of sudoku. Meanwhile, the Copeman Centre has admin access to the website to track all patients’ progress.

According to the Copeman Centre website, these strategies cumulate to make you “think faster, focus better and remember more.”

While the brain care program is effective for people who have already experienced drags in function — like memory loss, dementia or lack of focus — it is aimed for the 45- to 60-year-old age group.

“What we’re hoping is that by introducing this message to our members at this earlier point in their lives, it allows them to maximize the potential benefits,” says Rosenblatt. “We can help them maximize their function in these very critical years of life as well as prevent what the future may hold for them — which no one can predict, but so many people are unfortunately shown to be at risk for.”  

PSYCHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY
The remaining two aspects of Copeman’s approach have been staples for years now, and finalize the path to total wellbeing.

In these regards, Dr. Beth Donaldson is a Copeman Clinic general practitioner and clinic medical director who is a major point of contact for patients. As a GP, she determines which parts of the team give a patient more attention and whether or not psychological care may be beneficial.

“In order for people to be truly successful with their physical wellbeing, their psychological health has to be on board. You can’t be an anxious insomniac and expect to lose weight,” she says. “Once you’re on that bandwagon where you’ve got your brain looked after, your psychological wellbeing looked after, hopefully what happens is your physical health can therefore improve along with it.”

Not all patients require psychological attention, but financial planner Danielson says he values the insurance of it and he knows other patients who have been helped by it.

The Copeman Centre’s interdisci-plinary approach particularly thrives in this area. From full team meetings to quick chats about a patient in the hallway, Donaldson says everyone is in the know. With the aid of modern technology, patients have a peace of mind that’s a rarity on the Canadian medical scene.

“They pretty much have a state-of-the-art information system that doctors are typing all the meeting notes in,” Danielson says. “You could literally meet with any of the health professionals there if your doctor’s not in, and they’d be able to have your history and a quick view or a dashboard of your situation at a fingertip’s glance.”

OVERALL WELLNESS
From method to service to technology, there’s a completeness at the Copeman Centre that leaves you thinking it’s the only way to approach health. If you want to be perfectly well, why have health care with gaps in it? It isn’t logical. Preventative care is care that saves money and the deep stress of dealing with health-related issues. Know all of your potential problems and mitigate as best you can. It’s arguably the best thing you can do for yourself, your family and maybe even your business.

“What are people looking for?” Copeman asks. “People want to feel like we have their backs, and not just when they have a back injury.” •