2021 A N NUAL R E POR T
COASTAL HEALTHCARE ALLIANCE
A MESSAGE FROM MARK FOURRÉ, MD: INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE It is tempting to think of 2021 much like we did 2020—as the year of COVID-19. And there’s good reason to do so. The pandemic continues, as do our ongoing efforts to respond in ways that keep our community healthy and safe. I am deeply grateful for the quiet courage, sustained over time and fueled by the desire to care for others, that our care team members continue to bring to work every day. However, I also think of 2021 as a year highlighted by our investment in the health of our community. We opened the new Beebe Health Center, launched two walk-in care facilities, built a new MRI suite and began construction on an addition to the PBMC Emergency Department. Together, these represent a more than $30 million investment in the infrastructure that allows us to provide the very best health care to our patients close to home. An overview of the important projects includes: • The new 42,000-square foot Beebe Health Center on the Rockport campus of Pen Bay Medical Center (PBMC). Opened early in the fiscal year, the health center brings together nearly all of the hospital’s primary care practices under one roof and provides enough room for the hospital’s expanding roster of primary care providers. • PBMC and WCGH Walk-In Care. Focusing on injuries and illnesses that require immediate attention but do not require an Emergency Department visit, walk-in care is especially useful for people who do not have primary care providers or who cannot access their provider’s office due to time of day or other factors. It also provides a way to link patients to primary care for their future preventative care needs. WCGH Walk-In Care is located
at 119 Northport Ave., across the street from the main hospital building. PBMC Walk-In Care is located in the Bok Building at 22 White St., just behind the Rockland Public Library. Both are open seven days a week with an extended schedule that includes evening hours. • MRI suite at PBMC. Construction of a new 966-squarefoot MRI suite started during the summer and now provides plenty of space to take advantage of all the advanced features of our new state-of-the-art MRI machine. The MRI, which was delivered in September, includes a number of features designed to overcome the anxiety that many patients feel when they are placed inside the narrow confines of the machine. These include piped in music, videos and the ability to project different colored lights onto the walls. On the surface, these may seem unnecessary. But relaxed patients typically hold steadier during a scan, reducing the need for additional scans and call backs. • PBMC Emergency Room Expansion. The $9 million project, which broke ground in July with a completion date of 2024, is being driven by advancements in emergency medicine that require more equipment but also lead to better outcomes. There has also been a significant increase in the severity of cases in recent years, and an increase in behavioral health cases. High acuity patients typically are sicker and require longer stays in the Emergency Department, which results in less turnover and fewer available exam rooms at any one time. At times we have had as many as 10 or more patients receiving care in the hallway. Expanding to 25 exam rooms will help to alleviate this.
These are highly visible signs of our investment, and they have received a great deal of attention in our local newspapers. The reality is that they only become meaningful when an extraordinary care team leverages them for the benefit of our patients. That’s why I say that our single most important investment in the past year was in our people. In July, we announced a market-driven compensation adjustment that positions us to retain and recruit the best and most talented people available. We raised our minimum wage to $17 and adjusted the compensation of all other eligible care team members. These adjustments were in addition to the compensation adjustments associated with the annual review process. All that we have accomplished on behalf of our community during this global pandemic, as well as the excellent care PBMC and WCGH provide day-in and day-out, is because of your efforts. If we are to continue this success, we know we will need to continue to invest in our wonderful team who provide outstanding care day in and day out.
Mark Fourré, MD President, Pen Bay Medical Center & Waldo County General Hospital
AWARDS The team members of Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County General Hospital are deeply committed to providing high quality, personalized care to all those who need it. On these pages are team members from departments system wide who have been recognized by their peers, or by members of the community, for excellence during fiscal year 2021. We are proud of these exemplary leaders and wish to thank them for their commitment to each other and to the community.
DAISY AWARD
STANDING OVATION
The DAISY Award celebrates a nurse who provides extraordinary clinical skill and compassionate care. It is one of the highest honors a nurse can receive.
The Standing Ovation Award recognizes a team member who goes above and beyond the call of duty, whether they work with patients directly or in a support role.
1ST QUARTER
1ST QUARTER
Tammy Black, RN-BC, SCU; Deece Ruggles, RN, CEN, Nursing Administration
Jocelyn Staples, CNA, SCU; Myia Drinkwater, EVS Technician; Ashley Hoffman, LSW, ED/Population Health; Kendra Emery, MD; Katelyn Ames, Medical Assistant, PBMC Physician Administration; Kim Rand, Regional Supply Chain Director
2ND QUARTER Erin Leonard, RN-C, OB/Labor and Delivery; Beth Eldridge, RN, Recovery Room
3RD QUARTER Kimberly Reed, RN, Special Care Unit; Monica Loring, RN, Wound Care
4TH QUARTER Pam Sprague, RN, Medical Surgical Unit; Jordan Tyler, RN, Medical Surgical Unit
2ND QUARTER Cindy Goodwin, Unit Secretary, Oncology; Casey Ellis, CMA/Scribe, Orthopedics; Julie Saitto, Pharmacy Technician Supervisor; Rebecca Anderson, CMA, Interventional Pain Management; Susan Marki, PT Aide; Ronda Long, Retail Pharmacy Technician II
3RD QUARTER Sue Maxwell, RN, Diabetes Education; Annah Sullivan, Pediatric Physical Therapist
4TH QUARTER Judy Curry, Quality; Julia Chase, Bedside Companion
SUNSHINE AWARD WINNERS The Sunshine Award celebrates the special skills and compassion of those who support our nurses. They are an integral part of the care team, and we are proud to recognize them.
1ST QUARTER Marissa Widdecomb, CNA, Quarry Hill, Long Term Care; Lucinda Graychase, MA, Surgical Associates
2ND QUARTER Alexis Davis, CNA, Medical Surgical Unit; Kayla Notari, MA Certified, Lincolnville Regional Health Center
3RD QUARTER Jeffrey Richards, CT Technician, Imaging; Kat Bourgeois, CNA, Medical Surgical Unit
4TH QUARTER Tracy Wilcox, CNA, Medical Surgical Unit; Debbie Post, CNA, Medical Surgical Unit
SPECIALT Y SERVICES • AUDIOLOGY SERVICES
• LONG TERM CARE
• PULMONARY MEDICINE
• CANCER CARE
» KNOX CENTER
• RHEUMATOLOGY
• CARDIOLOGY
» QUARRY HILL
• SLEEP SERVICES
• CARDIAC REHAB • DENTAL CARE**
• MEDICAL & SURGICAL » SKIN SERVICES*
• SPEECH THERAPY » PEDIATRIC SPEECH THERAPY
• DIABETES SERVICES
• NEPHROLOGY
• TELEHEALTH
• EAR, NOSE & THROAT
• NEUROLOGY
• UROLOGY
• GASTROENTEROLOGY*
• ORTHOPEDIC & SPORTS MEDICINE
• VASCULAR SURGERY*
• GENERAL SURGERY
• PALLIATIVE CARE MEDICINE
• WOMEN’S HEALTH / OB/GYN
• GERIATRIC CARE
• INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE & PAIN MANAGEMENT
» GYN SURGERY
• HOSPICE SERVICES
• PHYSICAL, SPORTS & OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
» MIDWIFERY SERVICES
• INFECTIOUS DISEASE*
• PODIATRY
• WOUND CARE * SERVICES PROVIDED AT PBMC ONLY
CLINICAL EXPANSION WALK-IN CARE
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT EXPANSION
MRI
As part of our efforts to make it easier for patients to access the care they need, WCGH and PBMC opened walk-in care centers in Belfast and Rockland in the past year.
Pen Bay Medical Center (PBMC) has embarked on a 22-month construction project that will almost double the size of its Emergency Department. When completed in 2022, the $9 million project will grow the Emergency Department from 9,000 square feet to 15,200 square feet and increase the number of exam rooms from 13 to 25.
In early 2021, a patient needed a certain kind of MRI scan that required a nurse to insert and monitor a Foley catheter. Unfortunately, the cramped mobile trailer that housed the old MRI scanner didn’t have enough room for the patient, the radiology tech and the nurse. As a result, the patient had to travel 90 minutes to Portland.
“We offer excellent care, but our facilities require significant upgrades to ensure that we can continue to provide the very best care for our patients in crisis,” said Elizabeth Lawrence, MD, medical director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at PBMC. “This project will give us the space and tools to do that for years to come.”
The new MRI suite has changed that. At 966 square feet – more than double the space in the trailer – it can accommodate patients and care team members. This has allowed PBMC to begin offering MRI services to pediatric and cardiac patients and others with conditions that require additional clinical staff in the room.
The ED expansion is being driven by advancements in emergency medicine that require more equipment and time but also lead to better outcomes for patients, especially those suffering a stroke or heart attack. There has also been a significant increase in the severity of cases requiring emergency care in recent years, as well as an increase in behavioral health cases.
“This suite is a game changer,” said John Morissette, RT, MR, the lead MRI technologist at PBMC. “Typically, people who require MRI scans are already vulnerable. Being able to treat them here instead of sending them to Portland is far better for patients.”
In January, the WCGH Walk-In Care opened 119 Northport Avenue in Belfast, across the street from the hospital. The effort was led by Kent Clark, MD, the WCGH chief medical officer, and family medicine providers Heather Ward, MD, and Benjamin Mailloux, MD. PBMC Walk-In Care opened in early July under the direction of Kendra Emery, DO, a family medicine provider who also opened PBMC’s COVID-19 testing center and who oversees the hospital’s response to the ongoing opioid crisis. Open seven days a week and featuring evening hours, both walk-in locations are equipped to treat patients with nonlife threatening injuries and illnesses that do not require an Emergency Department (ED) visit. Walk-in care is especially useful for people who do not have primary care providers (PCP). This is important because people who lack a PCP often seek basic medical care from the ED – one of the most expensive ways of delivering health care. Walk-in care can provide that care at a fraction of the cost to patients. Said Dr. Emery: “Walk-in care really reshapes the health care landscape in a way that supports our efforts to make our communities the healthiest in America.”
“At times we have had as many as 10 or more patients receiving care in the hallway, which offers no privacy and makes an already stressful situation more challenging,” said Mark Eggena, MD, PhD, the chief medical officer for PBMC. “Expanding to 25 exam rooms will alleviate this.”
The MRI is a state-of-the-art piece of medical technology that produces high quality scans and makes for a more comfortable patient experience. These include piped in music, videos and the ability to project different colored lights onto the walls. The reasoning is that relaxed patients typically hold steadier during a scan. “Our goal is always to provide our community with the best health care close to home,” said Dr. Eggena. “This new MRI suite will reduce the need for patients to travel to Portland and allow them to better focus on their health.”
A FAMILY OF NURSES SUPPORTING EACH OTHER Day in and day out, the nurses and nursing support teams at PBMC, WCGH and our long-term care facilities at the Knox Center and Quarry Hill have continued to care for patients during the pandemic. We are grateful for their dedication and sense of purpose and are inspired by the profound difference they make in the lives of so many.
“I was a week out from starting in my new position when we learned my daughter was going to need urgent surgery,” said Letitia. “I hadn’t even started yet and my new manager was more than supportive, reassuring me to take the time I needed to care for my daughter and not to worry about work.
However, we would be remiss if we also didn’t acknowledge the heavy burden the pandemic has placed on our nursing teams, especially those who work directly with COVID-19 patents. The work is harder and the time for self-care shorter. Nevertheless, the vast majority of our nurses and nurse support staff continue to come to work every day to care for our patients and our community. With this simple act of showing up, they inspire all around them around them to not merely endure the pandemic but to prevail. For this, we are deeply grateful.
“The employees and managers here work so collaboratively that over time we have become a family,” Letitia said. “It’s easy to come to work when you work with a great group of people.”
And yet, this begs the question: What or who inspires our nursing teams? The answer, it turns out, is both simple and profound. After spending 20 years in the Emergency Department at WCGH, Letitia Stover, RN, recently started in a new position as the lung cancer navigation nurse with WCMP Pulmonology. The transition proved challenging.
Kay Allan, RN, CNOR, who has worked in the operating room at PBMC for 12 years, notes that nurses and nursing support staff have seen difficult times in the past. “Of course, we’ve always gone through periods of staffing shortages for one reason or another, but they only lasted a month or two and you got through it,” she said. “With this pandemic, we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel quite yet and that can challenge your motivation,” she said. “The difference is our team. I tell people that this is my other family. The docs, the nurses, the anesthesia providers, the techs, and housekeeping and support staff – everyone is amazing. We keep each other going. Tomorrow is going to be a new day and we’ll get other through it together.”
Colleen Stentiford, CRMA, CNA, works in the assisted living unit at Quarry Hill. “I enjoy working with my coworkers and I love my boss,” she said. “I really enjoy working with the residents.” Colleen said that sense of family has helped her get through the pandemic. “During the pandemic, everybody has been a little kinder and more supportive of each other,” Colleen said. “That’s the reason I come in to work every day.” As of this writing, the pandemic is in full swing, and the challenges and uncertainty will no doubt continue into the New Year and beyond. Fortunately, the depth of our nurses’ commitment to each other – and, really, the commitment of the entire PBMC and WCGH teams – is our light at the end of the tunnel, ensuring that we will make it through. “I’ve often said that nursing is a calling, and I truly believe that it is,” said Ellen Leone, the chief nursing officer for PBMC and WCGH. “I’m proud that our nursing team chooses to be here. We are family.”
INVESTING IN PRIMARY CARE One of the most consequential investments that PBMC and WCGH have made in past year five years has been in expanding primary care. Since the 1990s, researchers have produced data that shows that communities with a higher ratio of primary care providers per total population are healthier compared to those with a lower ratio. In other words, the data tells us that we can improve the health of Knox and Waldo counties and expand health equity by expanding our primary care practices. At PBMC and WCGH, we recognized this opportunity years ago and began taking concrete steps to increase primary care in the communities we serve. In 2016, we built the Biscone Building on the campus of WCGH to house our expanding primary care practice in Waldo County.
Since then, PBMC and WCGH have hired a combined 33 primary care providers, including family practitioners, general internists and pediatricians. Today, we have 58 primary care providers—36 at PBMC and 22 at WCGH. More recently, we celebrated the opening of the new Beebe Health Center on the campus of PBMC. We were motivated to build the health center for two reasons. We wanted to bring all of our primary care practices under one roof so that providers could better collaborate to deliver even better care to our patients. We also needed more office space and exam rooms to accommodate all those new primary care providers. Our most recent investment in access to care has been in the form of setting up walk-in care practices in Belfast and Rockland. Technically, walk-in care is not primary care for
this reason: A primary care provider manages the patient’s health care on an ongoing basis. Walk-in care, on the other hand, is largely transactional, serving the immediate health needs of people whose illnesses or injuries do not rise to the level of an Emergency Department visit. However, we have designed the work flow at our walk-in care practices to connect those patients who do not have a primary care provider with one. We will continue to invest in all parts of the hospital to provide our patients with the best health care close to home. However, it is our investment in primary care— and the infrastructure that supports it—that will help us fulfill our vision of making our communities the healthiest in America.
INVESTING IN WOMEN’S HEALTH In 2021, the Women’s Health practices at PBMC and WCGH played a major role in our ongoing efforts to expand access to care for our families, friends and neighbors in Knox and Waldo counties. Both practices successfully recruited a number of providers—including a doctor and a midwife at PBMC and two midwives at WCGH. This brought both to near full strength and allowed them to provide more women with the high quality care they need close to home. “Women have many unique health care needs,” said Jennifer McKenna, MD, an OB/GYN physicians at Pen Bay Women’s Health. “Investing in our team and recruiting the very best people represents our commitment to providing the highest quality health care to women in our communities.” The PBMC Women’s Health team includes three physicians and five certified nurse midwives. At WCGH, the team includes two physicians and three certified nurse midwives. The implications for the health of the community are significant. WCGH, for example, has been able to welcome patients who up until recently traveled as far as Bangor and Augusta for care. “People are more likely to seek out health care when it is close to home and easy to access,” said Rob Grondahl, MD, a women’s health provider at WCGH. “Our recruiting efforts are critical to our commitment to improving the health of women—and the lives of all the people around them—in Knox and Waldo counties.” In addition to their recruiting success, the Women’s Health practices at PBMC and WCGH can boast of other significant achievements during the past year. In 2019, PBMC and WCGH began working with Mother’s Milk Bank New England to collect breast milk from mothers who produced more than their child needed. This past year, both Women’s Health practices expanded their roles to become dispensaries of the milk, which is first screened and pasteurized. This supports mothers who are
committed to breast feeding but are not producing enough milk on their own. Both practices also implemented Eat, Sleep, Console, a program that provides a non-pharmacologic path to caring for infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. In the U.S., six out of 1,000 babies are born to mothers who used opioids during their pregnancy. Historically, these infants have been treated with the introduction and slow weaning of pharmaceuticals. Eat, Sleep, Console instead focuses on the comfort and care of the newborn, decreasing motherchild separation and significantly shortening hospital stays. This past year also saw the recognition of our commitment to providing outstanding lactation care. The International
Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) and the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) honored the PBMC Birth Center with the IBCLC Care Award. While the award highlighted PBMC, it was in many ways a recognition of the commitment of both hospitals to caring for mothers and their newborns. “We are especially proud that we have been able to improve access to care and expand our services even as we navigated the pandemic,” said Dr. McKenna. “This was made possible by the talented and committed Women’s Health care teams at both PBMC and WCGH. Their dedication continues to make a profound impact on the health of women in both Knox and Waldo counties.”
HIGH VOLUME COVID CLINICS: VACCINATING OUR COMMUNITIES THROUGH TEAMWORK When Steven Garhartt, PharmD, MBA, walked into the lobby of building #6 in the former MBNA complex in Belfast, he stood in awe. It wasn’t the architecture, the massive skylight or the tile floors that impressed him. Garhartt, who has since been named interim director of operations at PBMC and WCGH, had entered the building with one goal. He was looking for a location to establish a COVID-19 vaccine clinic. And he didn’t have a lot of time. The clinic was scheduled to open in just eight days. “The interior was laid out perfectly for a high-volume COVID-19 vaccine clinic,” said Garhartt. “The challenge at that point was going to be getting a clinic up and running to handle as many as 750 people a day.” The clinic in Belfast opened on time on Jan. 27 to vaccinate more than 200 residents on its first day, many of whom praised how well the clinic was run. A second clinic, set up in the Samoset Resort in Rockport just a few days later, earned similar praise. The Rockport clinic eventually relocated to 405 Old County Road in Rockland. “I was so pleased to see how easy they made it for us,” said Patricia Kieft, 76, a Northport resident who received her vaccinations at the Belfast clinic. “Everybody was so sweet. They knew we were nervous and they were just so reassuring. I talked to other people who went to the clinic that day and they had the same reaction.” And when it came to the shot itself ? “It didn’t hurt, just a little prick like any other shot,” Kieft said. Denise Needham, PharmD, interim chief operating officer of PBMC and WCGH, said the positive reactions from patients came through the hard work of a dedicated team of people from a cross-section of departments at both hospitals. They included Garhartt, Dawn Place, the director of physician practices and population health at WCGH, and Lori Barter, RN, clinical manager of the physician practices at PBMC, as well as members of the information
technology team. Cheryl Liechty, MD, MPH, who oversees the overall COVID response for PBMC and WCGH, and Mark Eggena, MD, PhD, an infectious disease specialist and chief medical officer at PBMC, provided important guidance. This team, in a slightly different form, had actually formed months earlier as both hospitals prepared to launch drivethru flu clinics for the public in the early fall of last year. The drive-thru model was meant to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission by administering the vaccines outdoors. “In a sense, it also was a dry run for our COVID clinics,” said Garhartt. The key difference was the scale. Fortunately, what could have been the biggest challenge at both clinics—finding enough staff to administer the vaccinations while still maintaining operations back at the hospitals—quickly turned into a strength. Physicians, nurses and other clinical and non-clinical staff eagerly raised
their hands to volunteer at the vaccine clinics. Moreover, volunteers from the community stepped up to serve important roles. In the end, the PBMC clinic fully vaccinated 10,457 people and the WCGH clinic 11,108 in just five months. Eventually, they were replaced by pop-up clinics and school clinics. Today, the vaccine is available through PBMC and WCGH Walk-In Care, The Pharmacy at PBMC and though our primary care offices. Though short lived, our first big clinics reminded Needham of other historic health care achievements, especially the polio vaccination campaigns of the 1950s and 1960s. “I’m not too proud to admit that I was moved to tears when we first opened each of the clinics,” Needham said. “Our team members more than willingly answered the call to do their part to make our communities safer for everyone.”
CLINIC VOLUNTEERS IN THIS TOGETHER: COMMUNIT Y VOLUNTEERS CENTRAL TO COVID CLINIC SUCCESS
As challenging as COVID-19 continues to be, it has also confirmed how deeply committed our communities are to the hospitals and health workers who care for them. This was evident at the high-volume COVID clinics that PBMC and WCGH operated in Rockport, Rockland and Belfast from January to June. More than 200 community volunteers stepped up to fill roles as varied as managing traffic in the parking lots, screening people as they entered the clinics and, for those licensed to do so, administering the vaccine. This freed up care team members to stay in the hospital and focus on the equally important job of seeing to all of the other health care needs of our community. “I think the Knox and Waldo county communities see us as an essential part of their lives,” said Jamie Geretz, director of volunteer services for both hospitals. “That so many
volunteers rallied to support the clinics just underscores the idea that we are all in this together.” Some volunteers said they saw the clinics as one of the largest—and most important—community events that Knox and Waldo counties have ever experienced, and they wanted to be a part of it. The following quotes were offered when the clinics were still running. “It absolutely feels like a community event where everyone is pulling together for the sake of the town,” said volunteer Sandy Cox, a Camden resident who volunteered after hearing about the opportunity during a meeting of West Bay Rotary. “This is an all hands on deck situation for our community,” said Lori Van Dusen, a Camden resident who volunteered at both clinics. “Volunteering isn’t some big, heroic thing— but it is important.”
Those signing up to volunteer had to undergo a rigorous screening process that included submitting a resume, a telephone interview and a background check. For those like Lincolnville resident Terry Moulton, who went through the process, it was worth it. “What an experience to have,” said Terry. “Why would anyone just want to sit at home and watch TV when they could be doing something to help their community?” We want to offer our deepest thanks to all those who volunteered for your deep commitment not just to PBMC and WCGH but to the communities we serve. You have inspired us with your selflessness and remind us that whether it is COVID or a common cold, we are all in this together.
SCHOOL COVID CLINICS: A VITAL PARTNERSHIP When the FDA granted emergency authorization for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 18-year-olds in May, the PBMC and WCGH teams operating the vaccination clinics in Belfast and Rockland gracefully pivoted to set up a number of schoolbased clinics. With very little time left in the school year, the challenge was to schedule clinics in time for students to receive both doses of the vaccine before school let out for the summer. In the end, the teams partnered with the remarkable school nurses at 10 schools, vaccinating 778 students between May 17 and June 11. Capturing this moment are two voices. Jaime Stone is the principal at Camden-Rockport Middle School (CRMS), and Adeline Winkes, MD, is a provider at Pen Bay Pediatrics whose own children were vaccinated at CRMS.
ADELINE WINKES, MD A few months ago, I had the very great pleasure of being able to take part in the school-based vaccination clinics. I was terrifically impressed with our vaccine team, led by the pharmacists. I had seen them in action already in the mass vaccination clinics, but schools presented a special challenge. The vaccine team travelled to two to three schools a day for a week, then repeated the process for the second doses three weeks later. Numerous volunteers commented later about the great energy at the schools. We had a lot of kids tell us that they were especially excited because now they could visit with their grandparents again after months of separation. Parents also expressed appreciation that we were able to provide this service and make it convenient for families. Many of us helping with the vaccine clinics are also parents with kids at those schools. My two older children were students at Camden-Rockport Middle and I was thrilled to be able to go to their school and give vaccines. Kids, teachers, staff, the medical team – everyone was excited to be able to do something positive in the midst of the pandemic. For many students, it was the first time they’d had a vaccine administered without a parent present, and they stepped up to support each other. We overheard lots of conversations on
the sidelines between kids who had just been vaccinated and those waiting in line: “not that bad,” and “See, I was fine.”
efforts to reign it in as a community to make it a safer place for everybody.
For us in pediatrics, it was also great to have a bit of quality time with a talented bunch of school nurses. They know their students so well, and they got a few kids through what would have otherwise been a tough experience for them. The same with the school administrators, who went out of their way to make the vaccine clinic process well-organized and convenient.
Our school nurse Gretchen Kuhn, reached to parents to educate them on the vaccine. Leading up to the clinics, she sent information sheets to families and helped them prepare for the anxiety their child might feel. Don’t forget, for some students, this was going to be their first time with a doctor or a nurse without a parent there in the room.
As a mom, I found it a pleasure – and a relief – that my daughters could be vaccinated quickly and easily, as soon as the vaccine was available. They were good sports – serving as our first patients so we could fine tune our process and helping to move chairs and organize bandages ahead of the clinic. I suspect it was probably fun for them to see a bit of mom’s work, too! After those busy and exciting weeks, we all came back to the office energized and enthusiastic, talking about plans for other ways to reach out to our community.
JAIME STONE, PRINCIPAL OF CRMS Before coming to Camden-Rockport Middle School, I was a principal in Baltimore City where we partnered with health agencies to provide students with all manner of health services and social services. None of those efforts were of this magnitude. The MaineHealth vaccination team was well organized and thoughtful in its approach. They set up just the right number of vaccination stations so that we could move our students through quickly, and they were great with the kids. We ran the backend, getting permission forms and making sure students arrived on time. About 67% of our eligible students were vaccinated during our clinic, around 160 students! Throughout the school year, we taught about COVID-19 as part of our seventh-grade curriculum. We have always studied things like the flu, but teaching COVID-19 was unique simply because it was a global threat happening as we were teaching it. We focused on what COVID-19 does, how you contract it, what we don't know about it and our
We started the clinic before the school day began so students wouldn't miss too much class and to reduce the peer pressure for students. There was a lot of conversation about the two week period until they were fully vaccinated. Students were excited to reach that point and resume more of their typical activities with friends. There was also a lot of joy and appreciation among students and their families. When we were asked if we would do this clinic, we had a small window of time in which to say yes or no. I said yes, without any thought. In the end, it was a success in large part successful because of the relationship we have built with our parent community. We are very proud of the trust our students and their families have in us and in our ability to deliver this opportunity through our partnership with MaineHealth.
MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES: A SUCCESS STORY This past year saw PBMC become the first rural hospital in Maine to offer monoclonal antibody treatment to those infected with COVID-19, and the program it built around the treatment has become a model for hospitals across the state. Leading the effort was Kendra Emery, DO, who also opened PBMC Walk-In Care this year and heads the hospital’s COVID-19 testing facility, called the Acute Respiratory Center (ARC). Significantly, it was this confluence of experiences that allowed her to build such an effective monoclonal antibody program. Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-produced versions of a natural protein designed specifically to attack the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The treatment can minimize the worst symptoms of a COVID infection and keep patients out of the hospital—if delivered early enough. Recognizing the need to treat the infection early, Dr. Emery coordinated the activities of walk-in care and the ARC to identify COVID-positive patients who would benefit from monoclonal antibody treatment. “If you can identify people early, you can really make a difference in reducing hospitalization risk,” said Cheryl Liechty, MD, MPH, who oversees the COVID response for PBMC and WCGH. “Dr. Emery and her team really moved mountains to coordinate this and set up an infusion center to deliver the monoclonal antibodies. “Their work is now the model being used throughout the MaineHealth system and at hospitals across Maine,” Dr. Liechty said. “With Dr. Emery, we are fortunate to have had someone in a leadership role who came at this from a position of pragmatism.” PBMC delivered a monoclonal antibody treatment to its first patient in December 2020. Since then, it has provided the treatment to more than 250 patients, some from as far away as Bucksport and southern Lincoln County. Certainly, this benefitted individual patients, reducing their risks of serious illness and even death. It also benefitted the entire community. By providing a treatment that kept many COVID-19 patients out of the hospital, the
monoclonal antibody program freed up beds that allowed PBMC and WCGH to care for both COVID and nonCOVID patients with serious conditions during the late summer surge. For her part, Dr. Emery praised the care teams at walkin care and the ARC for the success of the program. “I’m proud of the collegiality and dedication from so many people who were involved in this effort,” Dr. Emery
said. “There were so many layers of commitment that kept us going. “At the end of the day, we wish we didn’t have to do this— we would rather everyone get vaccinated,” Dr. Emery said. “Until that happens, we are proud of the fact that our small rural hospital led the way for using monoclonal antibody treatments in Maine.”
LIVING OUR VALUES PATIENT CENTERED Being patient centered certainly involves performing medical procedures with compassion and competence. Sometimes, it also means adopting a wider gaze to understand a patient’s life outside of our medical offices.
her for “helping to get someone to come and do all that they have done for me. God bless you.” “It was nice to get the card,” Rebecca said. “I think once the dust settled, she realized she could sleep at night without having to worry about whether it was going to rain.”
Rebecca Anderson, a certified medical assistant in the Physical Medicine and Interventional Pain practice at PBMC, did just that when she was working with an elderly patient who had come in for a routine pain management procedure.
And we all know the impact a good night sleep has on our health. Thanks, Rebecca, for your patient-centered care— and your wider gaze.
“She was pacing the exam room,” Rebecca recalls. “I asked if everything was alright. It turns out her roof was leaking and she was worried that it was going to rain before she could get home.”
For Deb Flint, a respiratory therapist at WCGH, one idea led to another—and an innovation that could provide relief to thousands of patients who must wear a nasal cannula for long periods of time.
Curious about this patient’s circumstances, Rebecca kept pulling on the thread of her story. “She ended up telling me that she was climbing into the rafters, actually balancing on them, to stuff her deceased husband's clothes into the cracks where the water was coming in.
The germ of Deb’s idea lies in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many care team members had developed sores behind their ears from wearing surgical masks all day. Their solution: Wear a headband with buttons sewn onto the sides and wrap the mask’s loops around the buttons instead of their ears.
“I thought, that’s not going to end well,” Rebecca said. “There’s got to be something we can do to help.” After the appointment, Rebecca started looking into resources for older patients and discovered a local motorcycle club whose membership of veterans focuses on helping other veterans who are struggling in life. “They asked if she was a veteran,” Rebecca says. “I said no but I wonder if her deceased husband was. I called her and it turns out her husband was a veteran who had received the Bronze Star during World War II.” The Bronze Star Medal is among the most highly regarded of recognitions is the U.S. Armed Forces. It is awarded to any person who distinguishes himself or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service. That was enough. The motorcycle club showed up at the patient’s house and put on a new metal roof, donating both the labor and the materials. All this happened in early 2021. About six months later, Rebecca received a card from the patient. In part, it thanked
INNOVATION
Deb’s innovative thinking saw an opportunity to modify the headbands to support the tubes of the nasal cannulas that many of her patients had to wear 24/7. “It was like a light bulb went off,” said Flint. “If that works for nurses, why wouldn’t it work for patients? So I put one together and showed a couple of people.” Among them was Angus Beal, MD, the director of Emergency Medicine at WCGH, who was impressed enough to encourage Deb to present her idea to the MaineHealth Innovation Center, which in turn awarded her a $1,000 Innovation Fund grant to further develop the idea. The Innovation Center established the fund as a way to foster and accelerate innovation within the MaineHealth system by empowering care team members to continually seek novel solutions to the real problems that our patients and communities face every day. Deb used her grant money to purchase a sewing machine and materials to develop 25 prototypes of her idea.
The innovation team has placed those with a number of MaineHealth Care at Home patients to test their effectiveness, durability and comfort. “The headbands are at a manufacturer that is also getting them cleared as a medical device,” Deb said. “Once cleared, we will do a trial of them with a group of patients that can use them and give us some feedback. This will help us develop a final prototype for manufacturing. “I’m thinking about calling it the JIG,” Deb said. Deb joined the care team at WCGH seven years ago. Before that, she worked at a number of hospitals in California and did missionary work that brought health care to rural patients in the Philippines, Hungary and Belize. She found the missionary work deeply satisfying. Although different in nature, her work creating the JIG band has produced a similar feeling. “In this project, there have been times of intense activity and excitement followed by a lot of waiting,” Deb said. “I suppose that’s how the creative process goes. But even during the lulls, I'm excited that this idea may help others.”
BY THE NUMBERS: FY2021
PEN BAY MEDICAL CENTER
WALDO COUNT Y GENERAL HOSPITAL
2,864
166,204
17,813
INPATIENT ADMISSIONS
MEDICAL GROUP VISITS
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT VISITS
1,224
91,740
11,724
INPATIENT ADMISSIONS
MEDICAL GROUP VISITS
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT VISITS
219
9,876
130
1,802
BIRTHS
VIRTUAL VISITS
BIRTHS
VIRTUAL VISITS
COASTAL HEALTHCARE ALLIANCE BOARD
CHAIR CAROLE BRAND
VICE CHAIR & SECRETARY
TREASURER DAVID FLANAGAN
SYRENA GATEWOOD
MEMBERS ANN BRESNAHAN
PAUL KLAINER, MD
HEATHER WARD, MD
GREGORY DUFOUR
STEPHANIE LASH, MD
LEE WEBB
ROBERT GRONDAHL, MD
JENNIFER MCKENNA, MD
CORNELIUS YETMAN, DO
STEPHEN HANSCOM
GARRY SCHWALL
ANN HOOPER
J. B. TURNER
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS DOUGLAS SAWYER, MD
MARK FOURRÉ, MD
RICH PETERSEN
756 Commercial Street Rockport, ME 04856