Our Medical Services in Garland, UT
Pediatrics
Pediatrics is the branch of medicine that focuses on babies, children, and adolescents up to age 18. Small, growing bodies are different to treat than adult bodies, so they require specially trained care.
Pediatrics doesn’t only focus on keeping children healthy and treating them when they’re sick or injured; it also focuses on making sure your child is developing at a healthy rate. Each visit with your child’s physician is an opportunity for you to ask questions and receive guidance for keeping them healthy.

Pediatrics
What is pediatrics?
Pediatrics is the branch of medicine that focuses on babies, children, and adolescents up to age 18. Small, growing bodies are different to treat than adult bodies, so they require specially trained care.
Pediatrics doesn’t only focus on keeping children healthy and treating them when they’re sick or injured; it also focuses on making sure your child is developing at a healthy rate. Each visit to your child’s physician is an opportunity for you to ask questions and receive guidance for keeping them healthy.
How can I keep up on my child’s pediatric care?
Staying current on your child’s physician care is important, and there are a few things you need to be sure to do. You’ll need to bring your baby in for check-ups at least six times throughout their first year of life. Between ages 1 and 3, your child needs check-ups every 3-6 months. After that, once a year is enough.
Dr. Walker offers vaccines for children to prevent serious illnesses that would require lots of care and time away from school and play. Away from the office, you should keep an eye on your child’s eating and sleeping habits as well as their physical, emotional, and social development. The more information Dr. Walker has about your child, the better he can treat and interact with them.
Keeping up on pediatric care is an essential part of your child’s healthy development. For expert, compassionate pediatrics, call Dr. Walker or book your appointment online today.
What do pediatricians frequently treat?
The short answer is that pediatricians treat any condition that a child gets. A few illnesses and injuries that they see frequently are:
- Infections
- Cold and flu
- Sore throat
- Broken bones
- Dislocated joints
- Chickenpox
- Allergies
- Eczema
- Asthma
- High Blood Pressure
- In-office newborn circumcisions
- Well Child Visits
- Vaccinations
- ADHD treatment
Pediatric medicine also looks for early signs and symptoms that will affect the child later in life. At each child’s visit, Dr. Walker looks for signs of:
- Delays in development
- Physical disabilities
- Behavioral issues
- Mental disorders
- Social problems
If he diagnoses your child with a physical or mental disease or disorder that needs further treatment, he may refer you to a specialist.

Women’s Health
Women have unique health challenges that require specific knowledge about their physiology. Conditions specific to women include:
Menstruation
Female Exams
Birth-Control
Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement
Skin Care
Ovarian and Cervical Cancer Screening
Women’s Health
What conditions are specific to women’s health?
Women have unique health challenges that require specific knowledge about their physiology.Conditions specific to women include:
- Menstruation
- Menopause
- Ovarian cancer
- Cervical cancer
- Female Exams
- Birth-Control
- Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement
- Skin Care
Other conditions affect women differently than men and therefore require different management strategies. They include:
- Breast cancer
- Urinary tract infections
- Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
- Mental health
- Heart disease
Women’s health exams include pap smears, as well as screening for several of these conditions and others not listed. It’s vital for you to check in with Dr. Walker regularly to keep up on your health.
When should I get a women’s health screening?
You should get your first women’s health exam, often called a well woman screening. It’s a great opportunity for you to ask any questions that you have about puberty and other sexual health topics.
Starting at age 21, you should start getting an exam annually. Your exam may begin to include additional tests and screenings at different milestones in your life. For example, you’ll start getting annual mammograms (breast cancer test) around age 40.
What is included in a women’s health Screening?
At your Screening, you may ask any questions about your health. Dr. Walker also asks you questions about your lifestyle, habits, and symptoms if you have any.
A pelvic screening (for abnormalities in your vagina, cervix, ovaries, and other organs), pap test (for cellular changes in your cervix), breast screening and mammogram, STD test, cervical and ovarian cancer screening.
During your appointment, Dr. Walker discusses with you your need for hormone or bioidentical hormone therapy.
If Dr. Walker notices anything abnormal or if you’re experiencing symptoms, you may need to undergo additional tests at your appointment.
What types of treatments can I get for my health as a woman?
In addition to comprehensive STD tests and annual check-ups, Dr. Walker offers TempSure™ laser treatments for women’s wellness. The device emits gentle heat to assist with the circulation in your difficult-to-reach organs. In turn, this safely eases pain and muscle spasms in the area associated with menstruation.
TempSure involves treatments that can relieve vaginal dryness, restore sensation to the area, and help control urinary incontinence.
If you’re a woman and want to keep up on the uniquely feminine aspects of your health, call Dr. Walker or book your visit online today.

Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic condition characterized by consistently high levels of sugar (glucose) in your blood. If you have diabetes, your body has trouble processing and using all of the sugar from your diet. If you don’t manage the disease, it puts you at a higher risk for serious health complications like heart attacks, strokes, nerve damage, and even dental diseases.
There are several types of diabetes. Your type depends on the cause of your high blood sugar levels, and treatments vary between the types.
Diabetes
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic condition characterized by consistently high levels of sugar (glucose) in your blood. If you have diabetes, your body has trouble processing and using all of the sugar from your diet. If you don’t manage the disease, it puts you at a higher risk for serious health complications like heart attacks, strokes, nerve damage, and even dental diseases.
There are several types of diabetes. Your type depends on the cause of your high blood sugar levels, and treatments vary between the types.
How is diabetes treated?
Anyone with Type 1 diabetes and some patients with Type 2 diabetes needs to take insulin to keep their blood sugar levels within a normal range. You’ll also need to regularly check your blood sugar levels with a home test kit. There are several other medications that Dr. Walker may prescribe for you to manage your blood sugar, too.
If you have Type 2, Dr. Walker may also recommend that you change your diet and get some exercise throughout the week. He gives you nutritional counseling to help manage your blood sugar and weight.
If you need expert diabetic education and treatments for any type of diabetes, call Dr. Walker or schedule your appointment online today.
What are the types of diabetes?
You may develop one of the three main types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2, and gestational.
Type 1
The development of Type 1 diabetes is out of your control. If you have Type 1, your body doesn’t produce insulin, a substance that helps your body process sugars into energy for your cells.
Type 2
With Type 2 diabetes, your body produces insulin, but it can’t keep up with the amount of sugar in your blood. Type 2 is strongly linked with obesity and often develops as a result of an unhealthy diet or drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.
Prediabetes is a condition that develops before Type 2. If Dr. Walker determines that you have prediabetes, you can make lifestyle changes to avoid getting Type 2 diabetes.
Gestational
Gestational diabetes develops while you’re pregnant. In most cases, it goes away after you give birth.
High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure can be a symptom of another disease or condition, called secondary high blood pressure, or it can develop without an identifiable cause over time (primary high blood pressure). Common causes and risk factors for high blood pressure are:
Stress
Age
Kidney disease
Obesity

High Blood Pressure
What is high blood pressure?
High blood pressure, also called hypertension, develops when your blood puts too much force on the walls of your blood vessels. Over time, this weakens your circulatory system and puts stress on your heart. The tissues on the walls of your blood vessels become damaged, putting you at risk for many dangerous conditions and diseases.
Your blood pressure is signified by one number over another. The top number, the systolic reading, indicates the pressure of your blood against your vessel walls as your heart pumps, and the bottom number, the diastolic reading, indicates the pressure between beats. Ideally, your number should read 120/80. Numbers higher than 130/80 indicate that you should make some lifestyle changes to preserve your health.
What causes high blood pressure?
There are many different causes of high blood pressure. If your diet is full of bad cholesterol, the cholesterol builds up on your blood vessel walls in the form of a substance called plaque. Plaque buildup narrows your blood vessels, which raises your blood pressure.
High blood pressure can be a symptom of another disease or condition, called secondary high blood pressure, or it can develop without an identifiable cause over time (primary high blood pressure). Common causes and risk factors for high blood pressure are:
- Stress
- Age
- Kidney disease
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Lack of exercise
- Alcohol and tobacco use
Dr. Walker recommends lifestyle changes that can help you keep healthy blood pressure. If your blood pressure is high, he creates a personalized treatment plan to help you manage it.
What are the risks of high blood pressure?
High blood pressure puts you at risk for many serious diseases. If you don’t manage your blood pressure, you’re at a higher risk for:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Aneurysm
- Kidney failure
- Blindness
- Limb amputation
Learning to manage your blood pressure allows you to live a healthy and satisfying lifestyle and, on average, a longer life.
How can I reduce my blood pressure?
Dr. Walker treats high blood pressure with medications that help lower it. He also monitors your blood pressure as often as possible and may send you home with a device to monitor it away from his office.
If he diagnoses you with high cholesterol that contributes to high blood pressure, he may prescribe additional medications to help lower it. He also helps you form a diet and exercise plan to keep your heart healthy.
For help monitoring and managing your high blood pressure, call Dr. Walker or book your appointment online today.

Weight Loss
During your regular physical exams, Dr. Walker notes your weight. If he feels that you would benefit from losing weight, he helps you explore your options for weight loss. Typically, a determining factor in the need for weight loss is your body mass index (BMI), a number calculated using your weight and height.
Dr. Walker may recommend weight loss medications and can offer laser treatments including our Sculpsure laser lipolysis (permanent fat removal) and Tempsure Envi (for cellulite and skin tightening).
Weight Loss
During your regular physical exams, Dr. Walker notes your weight. If he feels that you would benefit from losing weight, he helps you explore your options for weight loss. Typically, a determining factor in the need for weight loss is your body mass index (BMI), a number calculated using your weight and height.
If your weight is affecting your self-esteem, you may want to explore your weight loss options. Even if you aren’t overweight or obese, Dr. Walker can give you tips for how to live a healthier lifestyle.
What does my weight loss plan include?
If Dr. Walker determines that losing weight would benefit your health, he works with you to create a personalized long-term weight loss plan and monitors your progress as you go. Your plan may include:
- Nutritional counseling
- An exercise plan
- Weight loss medications
- Bariatric surgery (in extreme obesity cases only)
After you’ve reached your target weight, you can lose the final difficult areas that won’t go away otherwise with SculpSure® body sculpting treatments. Keep in mind that this part of your treatment isn’t for losing weight: Rather, body sculpting gives you the shape you want and eliminates loose skin left over from significant weight loss.
If you’re ready to feel comfortable in your body again, call Dr. Walker or book an appointment online today to find out if you’re a candidate for a medical weight loss plan.
What are the health benefits of weight loss?
Losing weight helps lower your risk of many health complications that come with excess body fat. If you learn new healthy habits and lose weight in the process, you can extend your life by avoiding conditions like:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Some cancers
- Diabetes
- Sleep apnea
- Arthritis
- Kidney disease
- Fatty liver disease
- High blood pressure
You’ll also enjoy better mobility and more energy if you lose a significant amount of weight. You may also experience a healthier social life, sex life, mood, and body image. If your current weight makes you feel bad about yourself, your self-esteem may be reason enough to explore your weight loss options.
Medical Cannabis
There is evidence of the benefits for use of the cannabis plant for treatment and management of certain medical conditions.
Michael Rasmussen, NP–Qualified Medical Provider (QMP) in Garland, Utah is licensed with the State of Utah to recommend cannabis cards.
Get started by:
- Step One: go to https://medicalcannabis.utah.gov/patients/
- Step Two: Call 435-257-3684 to schedule an appointment with Nurse Practitioner, Michael Rasmussen at Douglas C. Walker, D.O., P.C.
- Step Three: After your appointment, Create a profile in the Electronic Certification System (EVS) at https://evs.utah.gov

Medical Cannabis
Qualifying conditions based upon Utah Code 26-61a-104 that our Qualified Medical Provider, Michael Rasmussen, FNP-C treats:
Chronic Pain
HIV
AIDS
Nausea
PTSD
Terminal Illness
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