Hearthside Family Health

05/29/2026

Come join our happy family! Two different room options: 8'11" x 11'6" with a sink or 10'3" x 9'11" without a sink. Both rooms with a window.

04/03/2026

I'd like to give a SHOUT-OUT to my partner, Siobhan, for the work she put in this week to fight for the RIGHT treatment for a patient who was being tossed around in the medical system due to useless logistical insurance hurdles and a lack of compassionate people. Siobhan spent countless phone calls connecting this patient to the right people so she could get the timely care that she needed. You are amazing!

04/01/2026

HEARTHSIDE is NOW accepting a limited number of NEW patients each month.
Call 603-312-1600, ext. 4 and speak to Kent if interested

03/03/2026

Do you ask open AI medical questions? (If you do, you are not alone as 230 million people ask ChatGPT health questions every week). But Please rethink that...
AI has the capability to provide accurate information but ONLY when the sources it uses are limited to reliable sources. Open AI, on the other hand, uses everything it can access to locate the string of words that it "thinks" you want to hear. This may include Sally's Instagram channel and Marty's website for "Remedies you can find in your cleaning cabinet".
AI is NOT compiling research and summarizing those results; it is looking for language predictions only. Chat GPT Health came out earlier this year but think of this more as a "personal health organizer" . It uses access to your medical records and health apps like MyFitnessPal or Peloton to help synthesize that information into an organized set of questions to discuss with your healthcare provider. Again, it is NOT a medical expert. And I'm putting aside security issues about sharing your medical records for now.


----A new study in NATURE shows how well it can TRIAGE:

Researchers published a study last week in Nature Medicine testing ChatGPT Health, a new consumer health AI tool, on a basic but critical task: triage. Given a set of symptoms, could it correctly tell you whether to stay home, schedule a routine appointment, get seen urgently, or go to the ED?

The results were mixed, and concerning at the extremes:

For people who didn’t need a doctor at all, it sent them to one 65% of the time. A waste of time and money.

For routine visits, it correctly recommended seeing a doctor 95% of the time.

For people who needed emergency care, it only recommended the ED about half the time. It handled classic emergencies well, like allergic reactions or stroke, but struggled to recognize how sick someone was about to become, like the early stages of a diabetic complication.

More detailed medical data improved accuracy, but adding irrelevant information confused it. For example, when normal lab results were included alongside a note that a patient was suicidal, ChatGPT got it wrong. That’s obviously deeply concerning.

What this means for you: For straightforward health questions, AI tools can genuinely help and can certainly supplement a visit with a clinician. Add more details for more accuracy, but proceed with caution and certainly do not use it for emergency health issues.

01/08/2026

We are often being asked "EVERYONE I know is sick. Is there something unusual going around?"
Unusual? No.
The usual suspects are all at play this time of year, though. Influenza A activity is VERY high right now. RSV is circulating. Covid is fairly quiet, relatively speaking, but Norovirus is also having a moment.

It is NOT too late to get a flu shot. Flu activity often extends to March. The virus, unfortunately, mutated during it's travel from the southern hemisphere but the flu shot still reduces severe illness and hospitalization. There have been 5,000 deaths in the US this flu season already, including at least 9 CHILDREN.

Norovirus: WASH, WASH, WASH YOUR HANDS. Hand sanitizer does not kill Norovirus so use soap and water and bleach-based cleaners for surfaces.

01/06/2026

One size does not fit all....
Science matters....
Talk to your trusted doctor or nurse practitioner!

12/07/2025

Why the changes recommended for Hepatitis B vaccines at birth??
(sorry, I said JFK instead of RFK. No disrespect meant to JFK)

11/07/2025

Want to know how to modify your risk for later dementia? It starts NOW! Address your blood pressure, cholesterol, social interactions. Stop smoking, move more. It all really does add up! If you have multiple goals, pick ONE and set a small personal goal. (I'm going to smoke 9 ci******es per day this week and 8 per day next week. I'm going to walk for 10 minutes after dinner on Monday, W, F with my neighbor. I'm going to stop bringing chips into the house because I can't resist them....) Once you make some progress, celebrate that and pick a NEW small goal.
[slide from PriMed East, Brain Check: Promoting Brain Health and Detecting Cognitive Impairment. Amy Clouse MD and Andrew Hudson MD]

10/30/2025

We have more and more patients using AI to research their medical concerns and bringing us the results of this research. I sometimes find it difficult to articulate HOW open AI works and WHY this "research" is often so medically/scientifically so inaccurate.

Dr. Peter Lin gave this talk at our recent conference and it REALLY helped me understand how this misinformation is produced from a patient search. I hope it will help some of you. It's all about how AI pulls information (searching for word patterns) and the ever-expanding sources available online.

If you want just a tid-bit, watch 21:01-31:00. I think he explains these so-called AI Hallucinations very simply and
concisely.

Is Artificial Intelligence as good as Human Intelligence ? Did you know that it's intelligence is created by algorithms and Data collection by AI companies?...