A Conversation With A Key Figure in the Medical Care Industry

Medinurse, a St. Louis-based organization that provides care services for individuals, companies and organizations, introduces a new biometric-based wellness plan. Biometric-based wellness plans are created via a comprehensive health screening process. Not only is the new plan imperative for employee health, this will also save employers and employees hundreds of dollars on insurance premiums.

Craig McKnight, vice president of MediNurse had a conversation with the Ladue-Frontenac Patch about current trends in the industry:

Patch: Does MediNurse have a base of operation, or do you go out into the field to do health screenings?

McKnight: We actually go out to the clients. We go to companies and corporations. We have a minimum of 10 people we will screen for bio metrics. For some companies we simply do blood pressure checks once a month for an hour and others we do the full gamut, blood testing, Body Mass Index, height and weight, their blood pressure and we can do a health risk assessment to do comparisons to their total overall employees in the company.

Patch: Do most Americans ignore their health conditions?

McKnight: Absolutely. Typically, the biggest thing now is obesity. Cardio vascular is a big problem.

Most the people don’t take the time to go to the doctor. For most, this may be the only check up they get during the year to find out if there’s something truly wrong.

Patch: Do you find it is very late for some just finding about their own medical problems?

McKnight: Yes. We found people with blood pressure of 170 and 180. And they didn’t even realize they had hypertension. Their cholesterol would be in the 200 and 300 hundreds and didn’t even know they were at risk.

We’ve found people with blood pressure sky-high and we recommend they go to the hospital or call their doctors right away.

Patch: So who works for you?

McKnight: We employ everything from registered nurses to technicians who come out and do stuff.

We also have a private nursing division and we take care of people in their homes or in facilities.

Patch: How long has MediNurse been operational?

McKnight: Over 27 years now.

Patch: Where are you based?

McKnight: We are at Manchester and I-270 at 12852 Manchester Road.

Patch: With the Baby Boomer explosion, seniors are living very long now.

McKnight: Absolutely. We are finding people want to stay in their homes longer and that’s where we use our private nursing division. People don’t want to go to nursing homes. That was the traditional thing to do 25-30 years ago.

Patch: Has the whole health care scene changed over the last few years?

McKnight: Insurance regulations have changed all of that. You used to be able to check yourself into a hospital just for a check up. Not anymore.

With wellness, we can really reduce costs for companies and their individuals. Edward Jones is our client for flu shots. We work with the St. Louis Archdiocese. We do wellness testing with the Burlington Northern Railroad all the time.

Patch: Where can people reach you?

McKnight: Corporate Headquarters: (314) 781-2800.

MediNurse web address.

This is the first of a two-part series. In the second in the series, McKnight talks about all the ramifications of Shingles these days.