Dr. Scott Major, a board-certified otolaryngologist providing ear, nose and throat (ENT) care at Star Valley Health, stepped into the SVI Radio studio to discuss his services as part of Better Hearing & Speech Month in May.

(0:00) Weekday wake up on SVI radio, (0:02) Swift 98 in the spur, (0:03) heading into our guest interview segment (0:05) and joining us from Star Valley Health (0:07) is Dr. Scott Major. (0:08) He is an otolaryngologist. (0:11) Was I close? (0:12) That’s correct.

(0:13) That was pretty close. (0:15) Otolaryngologist or something like that. (0:17) Ear, nose and throat specialist at Star Valley Health (0:21) and May is actually better hearing and speech month.

(0:24) So Dr. Major, appreciate your time. (0:26) Tell us maybe just some background on you. (0:29) Let’s get to know you a little bit.

(0:30) How did you get into this profession? (0:32) Well, thanks for having me and I appreciate being here. (0:35) I’m actually from Utah, grew up in Utah (0:37) and ended up going to Weber State University, (0:41) then went to medical school at the University of Utah (0:43) and did some training in ENT and otolaryngology (0:47) at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. (0:50) After that, I came back to Utah (0:52) and started practice there 25 years ago.

(0:55) So I have a good practice going in Ogden (0:57) and also go up to Brigham City. (1:00) So do a fair amount there, very busy. (1:03) I’ve started coming up to Afton (1:06) about six or seven months ago.

(1:08) They had an opening here and Star Valley (1:11) has always been kind of near and dear to my heart. (1:13) I had a dad who loved it up here. (1:15) He was a rancher and so I grew up bucking hay (1:18) and running Black Angus.

(1:21) And so he always dreamed of coming up here (1:23) and I think I’m guess fulfilling the rest of that dream. (1:26) Excellent, excellent. (1:27) How often do you find yourself in Star Valley (1:30) with your practice? (1:31) Right now, I’m coming once a month (1:33) and I stay each time I come for three or four days.

(1:36) That’s gonna change as of June. (1:38) So we’ll be coming twice a month. (1:41) And then I have some mid-level providers, (1:43) a PA and a nurse practitioner (1:44) who will start coming on my off weeks.

(1:47) So we’ll eventually have ENT services here every week. (1:51) Okay, excellent. (1:52) Now, obviously you mentioned you practice a lot in Utah (1:55) and have done some other things.

(1:57) In a rural setting like this, (1:58) working with Star Valley Health, (1:59) what have you enjoyed most (2:00) and maybe what makes it a little unique (2:02) from maybe the larger areas in Utah that you work in? (2:06) Well, first of all, (2:07) I’m sure everybody’s been down to Utah lately. (2:09) It’s crazy with people and traffic and all those things. (2:12) So I love that part.

(2:14) Like I said, I grew up as a country boy (2:16) and so getting away from that is super appealing. (2:20) But what I really have noticed here (2:22) is the people here are just phenomenal. (2:25) And I’ll have a lot of very blue collar ranchers (2:29) and agriculture folks who I really enjoy working with.

(2:32) And then the next patient I see (2:34) might be somebody moved in recently from California. (2:38) Sorry about that. (2:39) But they’re good people too (2:41) and you meet all of the good people.

(2:44) And so I just really enjoyed that. (2:45) That’s Dr. Scott Major (2:47) with Star Valley Health in studio today. (2:49) So let’s talk specifics about what you do.

(2:53) So ENT, that obviously is very focused (2:56) but I’m assuming it still encompasses quite a bit. (2:59) Correct. (3:00) And like you mentioned, Duke, (3:01) May is Speech and Hearing Month.

(3:05) We focus on that and that incorporates so much. (3:09) And in my specialty, that’s really what I end up doing. (3:12) So from a hearing standpoint, (3:13) we do everything from a newborn hearing screen (3:17) that we do and check as kids are born (3:22) to maybe one or two year old kids (3:24) who are starting to have ear infections (3:25) and they might need tubes in their ears (3:27) all the way up to as we get older (3:29) and we start to have decrease in our hearing (3:31) and we need hearing aids.

(3:32) We have an audiologist, Dr. Hale, who works with me here (3:36) and he’s great at helping people (3:39) overcome some of those challenges throughout life. (3:42) But my point is that it’s a whole lifetime (3:44) of hearing that we focus on. (3:46) Okay, and at what point does someone know (3:49) that they need to see a specialist like yourself? (3:52) A lot of times I think you might be meeting (3:54) with your doctor and bring some things up (3:56) and your primary care doctor would say, (3:58) hey, you need to go over and see Dr. Major (4:00) and we can take it from there.

(4:02) Probably more often than that is people around you, (4:06) your loved ones, your spouse, your kids are saying, (4:09) hey, I don’t think dad can hear as well as he used to (4:11) or mom’s over here in the kitchen and she can’t hear us (4:14) when we go running out down the stairs or something. (4:16) So it might be the loved ones around you (4:19) are noticing more that your hearing’s changing (4:21) and they’re the ones who are saying, (4:23) hey, you need to get in and see somebody (4:24) and just look at that. (4:25) Yeah, of course we hear hearing aids are used quite often.

(4:29) What other options are available? (4:32) Hearing aids still one of the top options (4:35) or there are other things that are used now? (4:37) Yeah, I think hearing aids are kind of like glasses (4:40) for your ears and so they’re always gonna be a standby (4:42) and a good feature, especially as we get older (4:45) and that’s probably the best option (4:46) but it really depends on your age (4:48) and what the process is that’s happening. (4:51) Dr. Major, over the course of your career, (4:53) how has ENT care changed and maybe treatments (4:59) or diagnosis or whatever it may be? (5:01) You know, that’s a super good question. (5:04) The N obviously in ear, nose and throat is nose (5:06) and so one of the things I do a lot of (5:09) is sinus and nose work.

(5:12) Just recently, we were looking at some new technology (5:15) that we have, it’s called image guidance surgery (5:17) and what we can do now is get a CAT scan (5:20) of somebody’s sinuses and when we take them to surgery, (5:25) we can marry those images to them (5:27) and actually I can take up an instrument (5:31) and put it on some part of their anatomy, (5:34) maybe the outside of their nose or inside of their nose, (5:36) an area that we see as a problem (5:38) and see that show up on the CAT scan (5:41) and that technology has only been around a little bit. (5:43) We have it here at Star Valley, which is outstanding (5:45) but that’s helped so many people (5:48) because we can direct that sinus treatment in surgery. (5:51) So surgery becomes safer, it becomes shorter (5:54) and much more successful.

(5:56) Excellent, if someone does need to go the route of surgery, (6:00) is that typically something that can be done (6:02) at Star Valley Health or do they need to travel (6:04) to maybe one of your other locations for that? (6:07) At Star Valley Health, we offer a full range of ENT care (6:12) so if they do need surgery, (6:14) that’s something we can certainly take care of here (6:16) with rare exception. (6:18) I mean, I think the things that I would have to refer (6:20) from Star Valley to a bigger center (6:24) are similar things that I would refer (6:26) when I’m in my practice in Ogden. (6:28) Okay, all right.

(6:29) That’s Dr. Scott Major this morning, (6:32) an ear, nose and throat specialist (6:33) on the weekday wake up. (6:35) Dr. Major, appreciate your time. (6:37) Good to have you up in Star Valley (6:39) for a time or two every month.

(6:40) Anything we missed about what you provide (6:42) for Star Valley Health that you’d like to mention? (6:44) You know, I think that covers most of it. (6:46) We do a lot of things that you think about ear, nose (6:49) and throat but we’re also head and neck surgeons (6:51) and so that includes people who say, (6:53) God, I’ve got this weird bump or lump in my mouth (6:56) and so we’re the primary caregivers for head and neck cancer (7:02) or for thyroid disease, things like that (7:04) and those are things that can be treated (7:06) through the ENT clinic here (7:07) and happy to see folks for those types of problems as well. (7:11) Perfect, all right.

(7:12) That’s Dr. Scott Major on the weekday wake up. (7:14) It’s all part of the SVI Radio Network.