Imagine a busy hospital emergency department (ED) filled with patients, many of whom have or may have COVID-19. The need to contain the spread of germs is more important than ever. Early in the pandemic, Liz Hamilton, MD, and Katie Main, MD, Maine Medical Center (MMC) Emergency Department Chief [...]
A sample quiz developed by Dr. Plourde Andy Patstone, President of Western Maine Health, leaned on Dr. Carolyn Plourde’s expertise as an experienced physician and educator to engage in critical COVID-19 vaccine myth busting among vaccine-hesitant healthcare workers concerned about pregnancy, fertility, and breastfeeding. Dr. Plourde, a [...]
“To be an innovator or entrepreneur was not exactly my intent,” says Rob Ecker, MD, MBA, Chief of Neuroscience at MaineHealth and Director of Endovascular Neurosurgery at Maine Medical Center. But that’s exactly what happened when Rob and his colleagues set out to develop a better way to clear [...]
As psychologist Jean Piaget teaches, play is a child’s work. Bethany Sweet, a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center, helps young patients and their families cope with and understand various diagnoses and medical procedures. The patients are often anxious [...]
Dr. Jeff Halter, Pediatric Surgeon at Maine Medical Center, likes to see his patients go home happy and healthy after surgery. Unfortunately, for many of his patients who use a gastrostomy tube, or g-tube, a return trip to the operating room is inevitable. Gastrostomy tubes, or g-tubes, are feeding [...]
Stephens Memorial Hospital of Western Maine Health located in Norway, ME. As a small rural hospital that runs a full service Emergency Department, Western Maine Health (WMH) based in Norway, ME, needs 24/7 general surgical call coverage. As the Norway community’s population decreased over the last several [...]
Finding and retaining a trained workforce in rural hospitals is challenging. Like other New England and rural medical centers, Memorial Hospital in North Conway, NH, has had an increasing need for clinical practice team members, especially medical assistants (MA). Local programs were not producing enough graduates to meet their [...]
Sara Cox, CNRN, tries on one of the first NewGown prototypes in fall 2020. Patients with an altered mental status are a common sight on the orthopedic, neurological and trauma units at Maine Medical Center (MMC) where Sara Cox, CNRN, Neuroscience Patient Navigator, has seen [...]
(from left) Brian Nolan, MD, Billijoe Prech-Child, MA, Brianna Walker, MA, and Sadie Kenney, MA, of Western Maine Health with the retinal camera used in the innovative diabetic retinopathy screening service A shortage of local eye care specialists in the Norway, Maine, area has led to an [...]
Michael Ferguson, MD, MTeach, demonstrating the augmented reality simulation of a newborn in distress. Photo: Black Fly Media In rural Maine areas, outside of Portland, babies born in distress are six times more likely to have significant and adverse complications, which can be fatal. While [...]