News
Flat Stanley Visits Indiana Vein Specialists
Earlier this month, at the request of a certain 1st grader, Flat Stanley came by to visit Dr. Schoonover and the team here at Indiana Vein Specialists. His visit brought smiles to the faces of our staff and patients as we gave him a tour of the office and provided him with his complimentary screening to see if he needed treatment. We took pictures of his adventures to share them with you.
Flat Stanley came to the office earlier in the morning with Kari Schoonover, in order to make sure he was on time for his appointment. To the left you can see him opening the door, trying to hurry Kari in behind him so that he would not be late. Flat Stanley knows there’s a fair amount of paperwork to be signed before he can get his consultation, including a consent form and medical history documents, so he wants to get in as early as possible to avoid making the nurses and doctors wait.
Once inside he talked with Diana Clauson, our scheduling coordinator, to make sure his appointment was in order and his paperwork was ready to be processed. Since he had filled most of it out online ahead of time through the Indiana Vein Specialists patient portal, she told him that he was “good to go.” Dr. Schoonover would be out soon to escort him around the office and see him to his initial ultrasound. Flat Stanley sat down and made himself comfortable in the waiting area of the office, reading some magazines and talking with Diana to overcome his initial fears regarding varicose and spider veins treatment. She reassured him that the 
treatment, if necessary, was non-invasive with minimal pain. Flat Stanley looked greatly relieved to hear this and was once more ready to go through with the treatment.
Dr. Schoonover soon arrived and brought Flat Stanley around the office, stopping by to give a brief introduction to a patient, which included helpful information on varicose and spider veins, before bringing him to the screening area where he would go to get his ultrasound. Nathan Watson, our registered vascular technologist, scanned Flat Stanley’s legs in order to identify potential vein disease for treatment. Nathan helped Flat Stanley identify a potential problem that he would need to have treated as soon as possible. Since Flat Stanley would only be available that day he decided to have the treatment done in short order. Dr. Schoonover came back and took him to a private room for review of his history and a brief physical, explained to him the importance of treating vein disease and prepped him for the procedure. During preparation, a final check of Flat Stanley’s vitals was performed. Dr. Schoonover performed an laser treatment for his larger varicose veins. After that, Nurse Maggie Haley came to perform the spider vein treatment for the smaller surface veins.
After he was finished, Flat Stanley realized that getting treatment for vein disease was not nearly as scary, nor as painful, as he had first thought. With his first treatment complete and a follow up scheduled a few weeks out, Flat Stanley knew he’d be back to see our friendly staff. He’s eager to return, but has many plans for new adventures to occupy his time in between.Nurse Maggie performed the treatment and used a vein light to make sure no smaller veins were missed during the sclerotherapy (spider vein treatment) session. Once he was cleared, Flat Stanley left the treatment room knowing that he would be 100% in a couple of days. He had one final stop before leaving, which was to meet Natalie Gilman for his post-treatment documentation where he was taken through the process of submitting his claim to the insurance company and paying for all of his applicable fees for the visit.