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Patient & Visitor Information >> News
Patient and Visitor Information News

 

Central Supply

Changes name to Sterile Processing and Distribution

Central Maine Medical Center’s Central Service has gone national. Well . . . actually, it’s adopted the name used by most hospitals nationwide: Sterile Processing and Distribution (SPD).  

“The new name better describes the role of the department,” says David Andrews, R.N., the department’s clinical coordinator. “The change stems from a recent employee survey that revealed that SPD employees didn’t feel other hospital employees knew what is done in the department. This perception was proven true recently when we received a telephone for repair and were asked if we fixed vacuum cleaners.” SPD’s primary role is the cleaning and sterilization of surgical equipment and supplies. This process involves several techniques, including exposure to ultrasonic sound waves to remove minute debris, washing in super-heated water, and exposing the instruments to high-temperature, pressurized steam (autoclaving).

The department is equipped with an array of special equipment that is used to clean surgical apparatus ranging from forceps to surgical instruments like retractors and clamps to delicate instruments such as iris scissors for eye surgery and the equipment necessary to repair a leaking heart valve.

In the past few years, SPD has become increasing high-tech with the introduction of more effective and safer equipment. “For example, gas sterilization has been replaced by a process called Sterrad that uses small amounts of hydrogen peroxide. It is safer for both employees and the environment; releasing only oxygen and water vapor into the air as the end products. Also, we just installed a system that fills and empties the washer-decontaminators automatically and even brings the racks from one room to another,” says David.

Though the Surgical Services Department is the SPD’s “biggest customer,” the department also sterilizes instruments kits for Minor Surgery-Endoscopy, Special Delivery, the Emergency and Radiology-Medical Imaging departments, the nursing units and D.F.D. Russell Medical Center in Leeds and Turner.

The SPD staff includes Vicky Roy, a certified sterile processing and distribution supervisor who serves as the department’s lead technician. Other staff members are: Fran Moulton, Mary Lutz, Mila Raymond, Sharon A. Grant, Monique Levasseur, Diane Smith, Jay Beck, Tom Bolduc, Kevin Lapoint and Jim Strout. Nine SPD employees are certified sterile processing and distribution technicians and sport the acronym CSPDT on their nametags. One employee is eligible to take the certification exam in October. The newest staff members aren’t eligible to take the test until 2004.

02/16/2005

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New Jersey Man

Is first LifeFlight patient to undergo cardiac surgery at CMHVI

New Jersey man is first LifeFlight patient to undergo cardiac surgery Lewiston crew plucks man from mountainside in western Maine.

Jack Kubovcik got a rare – thankfully – look at Central Maine Medical Center’s capabilities as a budding tertiary care center in July when he became the first emergency cardiac patient to undergo open-heart surgery at CMMC after transport by LifeFlight.

The 63-year-old Rockaway, N.J., resident was hiking a segment of the Appalachian Trail with his son, Eric, 33, when he collapsed. But even though the two men were several miles from the nearest road, a fortuitous combination of events would save Jack’s life.

First visit in 35 years

Jack and his wife, Angela, last visited Maine some 35 years ago. When they returned this summer, the plan was that Jack would meet their son and the pair would hike the Appalachian Trail from Grafton Notch to Mount Katahdin; Angela would drive back to New Jersey with their daughter, Amy.

Outwardly, Jack didn’t appear to be the “typical” cardiac patient, though experts agree appearance can be deceiving when cardiac health is concerned. Lean and seemingly good-natured, Jack was by all accounts in good health. A former bicyclist who covered some 6,000 miles annually, his interest in outdoors activities shifted to hiking about six years ago. The 260-mile hike that he and his son planned through Maine didn’t seem particularly daunting to him. The two expected that it would take them 29 days to reach the peak of Katahdin.

A hot, humid day takes its toll

The Kubovcik’s brief Maine hike began on July 4, one of the hottest and most humid days of the summer. Under a hazy sky, temperatures were cresting in the mid- and even high-90s at various locations statewide. The air was thick and oppressive as Jack and Eric made the summit of West Bald Pate and descended the “saddle” approaching East Bald Pate. As the terrain grew steeper, Jack began feeling poorly. At first, Jack says he attributed the nausea he felt to the heat and possible dehydration. He had something to eat and drink, but it didn’t alleviate the symptoms. Eric had ranged ahead of him on the trail and Jack called out for him to come back. Eric reached his father just in time to catch him as he passed out.

Eric had only recently completed a Basic Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) course in his adopted state of Washington and had made just a half-dozen calls. But he knew from his training that it was important to make sure his dad’s airways were clear. Jack’s breathing was shallow and his pulse weak. Eric says his first conclusion was that his father had heatstroke, but symptoms didn’t quite match up with the diagnosis. “His skin was cool and clammy,” he recalls, “that’s not a sign of heat exhaustion, so then I figured it could be shock.”

As luck would have it

As Eric was tending his father, another hiker came along. When Eric suggested the possibility that his dad was having a heart attack, the woman screamed. But she quickly regained her composure and offered to call 911 on her cell phone. “I told her to tell 911 to be prepared for flight out,” he said.

Soon another hiker came along. His name was Jeremy Wirth of Falmouth, and as providence would have it, he was also an EMT. With a bit more experience under his belt and the ability to assess things a little more dispassionately, Jeremy attended to Jack while Eric talked with rescuers.

After discussing Jack’s signs and symptoms, Eric, Jeremy and the dispatcher concluded that he might indeed be in the midst of a heart attack. The dispatcher then had to determine how to respond to the emergency . . . that’s when Jack, who’d regained consciousness, began to make his concerns clear.

“I told them, ‘I’m not going to make it if they try to get me out by board,” Jack recalls. Throughout the ordeal, Jack says he felt a sense of doom. “I kept saying to Eric, ‘I have to get out of here.’ ” The others concurred. It would take rescuers on foot several hours to carry Jack to the closest access point on Route 26. They didn’t have several hours. The dispatcher connected the men with Game Warden Rick Mills, who asked about accessibility by air. When they determined that a safe landing could be made on one of the mountain’s bald spots, LifeFlight was called. “Rick, the warden, said LifeFlight would be there in 30 minutes,” Eric recalls.

As the Lewiston LifeFlight crew took to the air, an emergency rescue team from Bethel was also dispatched in case a landing was not possible.

“We heard them coming in low.”

“We heard them coming in low; they didn’t know exactly where we were,” says Eric, who tried to get the flight crew’s attention by waving a handkerchief. Pilot Karl Hatlemark spotted the landing zone but pulled out of his first landing attempt before setting the airship down. Flight paramedic Bob Johnson and flight nurse Cathy Case, were apprised of Jack’s condition by Eric and Jeremy. Then the four loaded him into the helicopter. They set a course for CMMC.

Relieved that Jack was literally out of the woods but concerned about what would come next, Eric and Jeremy set off down the trail to Jeremy’s vehicle. The pair drove to CMMC.

In good hands

Jack says his most vivid memory of the flight to CMMC is the whir of the helicopter rotors. “I felt disappointed in my body,” he recalls. “I felt left down. But, actually, I felt pretty good . . . I was in good hands.”

At CMMC, Jack under went two EKGs and an enzyme test that confirmed that he was having a heart attack. William Phillips, M.D., director of diagnostic and interventional cardiology at the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute (CMHVI), performed a catheter exam and detected a blockage. He completed an angioplasty to restore blood flow, but more work would be needed. Jack was introduced to Pat Cochran, M.D., CMHVI’s director of cardiac surgery.

“They were tremendous,” Jack says about the care providers at CMMC and CMHVI. “I considered going home for surgery, but they made me feel so comfortable.” On July 7, Dr. Cochran performed a quadruple bypass. Jack’s recovery went very well and less than a week later he was on his way home.

“Nothing you could do any better.”

While Jack was a patient in the Single Stay Unit at CMHVI, his family stayed at the Arbor House, CMMC’s temporary housing facility. They were impressed with both resources.

“The Arbor House program is really incredible,” Eric says. “The staff and the Single Stay Unit are tremendous,” Jack adds. “There’s really nothing you could do any better.”

Making good luck

The Kubovcik family knows that Jack’s survival and recovery is largely a factor of good luck. They also know that in many ways, people set the conditions for good luck. Eric’s recent certification as an EMT . . . the creation of LifeFlight a few years ago . . . the availability of sophisticated cardiac care at CMMC . . . were all factors in Jack’s rescue and recovery. Nonetheless, the story’s essentially happy ending still reduces to good luck. But it’s a lucky streak the Kubovciks will gladly accept.

02/16/2005

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Diane M. MacKinnon, M.D.

Joins Central Maine Family Practice

Diane M. MacKinnon, M.D., a family physician, has joined Central Maine Family Practice, a clinical division of Central Maine Medical Center.

Prior to beginning her work with Central Maine Family Practice, MacKinnon practiced for three years with Family Health Associates in Auburn, a well-respected group physician practice.

A graduate of Providence College in Providence, R.I., MacKinnon earned her medical degree at State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn College of Medicine in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she received numerous academic awards. She completed a residency in family practice at the Central Maine Medical Center Family Practice Residency Program.

MacKinnon previously worked as a medical editor at the New York Orthopedic Hospital Research Laboratory in New York City, and as a research assistant at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

She is certified by the American Board of Family Practice, and is a member of the American Academy of Family Practice, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, Maine Medical Association, and American Society of Colposcopists and Cervical Pathologists.

MacKinnon is a volunteer with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Androscoggin County.

She is practicing in association with Central Maine Family Practice, a group practice comprised of Trisha A. Gushue, D.O., J. Scott Patch, M.D., Susan A. Thomas, M.D., Peggy Wyman, M.D., and family nurse practitioners Tracy Creaser and Elizabeth Byard. The group provides a full range of family healthcare services to both children and adults. Central Maine Family Practice's offices are located in Suite 302 at the Twelve High Street Medical Office Complex in Lewiston.

02/16/2005

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State Healthcare plan -- as proposed -- will devastate Maine's hospital system

Many ask: Why the rush?

On May 5, Governor John Baldacci unveiled his promised healthcare reform plan. One week later, LD 1611, the actual bill, was released and immediately followed by news that a public hearing on the measure would be held just three days later on May 15.

This aggressive strategy of introducing a reform plan that will drastically affect a $5 to $6 billion sector of Maine’s economy and moving it forward for a quick vote certainly had its intended effect on the state’s hospital community. Hospital governing boards and management teams statewide barely had the chance to review the massive bill before they found themselves testifying before a select legislative committee at a hastily scheduled public hearing.

Stunned by the bill’s complexity, countless shortcomings and generally punitive tenor, hospital leaders throughout Maine questioned why the proposal was being pushed so fast and so hard.

(Click here to learn how you can help Maine's hospitals protect themselves from this potentially devastating proposal.)

Why the rush?

The answer lies in the bill itself.

LD 1611 “An Act To Provide Affordable Health Insurance to Small Businesses and Individuals and To Control Health Care Costs,” as it is currently drafted, is the most potentially devastating legislation ever aimed at Maine’s healthcare system.

Central to the plan is a provision that establishes a “global budget” for all of Maine’s hospitals. According to the formula that establishes this budget, in the first year of the plan’s operation, there will be a $750 million dollar gap between what it will cost to deliver services statewide and what state government will allow hospitals to recover. This funding shortfall is approximately equal to the annual budgets of the state’s 24 smallest hospitals.

A second key component of the plan is a proposal to institute a “voluntary” hospital rate freezes of three percent. If the voluntary approach fails, the state will impose rate regulation. The obvious failing of this component of the plan is that it does nothing to constrain the costs actually incurred by hospitals in delivering healthcare services.

Another provision of the reform plan places a moratorium on all Certificate of Need (CON) applications for one year and establishes a cap on all future CON projects. Since the state has indicated it will initiate an extensive healthcare planning process to augment the CON process and hospital leaders are in general agreement with this approach, a CON capital investment cap is unnecessary.

Hospital executives, governing board members, physicians and others in the healthcare field have suggested that supporters of the plan are pushing for very fast action on the bill because they believe it won’t stand up to public scrutiny. Even the bill’s most ardent supporters seem to realize that it is flawed.

While acknowledging in a Kennebec Journal opinion piece that the plan “is not perfect,” Assistant Senate Majority Leader Ken Gagnon of Waterville, a Democrat who cosponsored the plan, warned that “there will be limited patience” for those who have opinions contrary to the reform proposal. Other legislators have been quoted as saying it is important “to pass the bill now and then go back and fix any problems later.”

Fix problems later?

Maine hospitals are questioning the wisdom of enacting such radical legislation without due consideration of its consequences. They also express doubts that reversing the bills most damaging features can be done quickly enough to avert its catastrophic consequences.

While the state’s hospitals agree that aspects of the Maine’s healthcare system, like aspects of the nation’s healthcare system, are in need of repair, they are united in their objection to many elements of Maine’s proposed reform bill

(Click here to learn how you can help Maine's hospitals protect themselves from this potentially devastating proposal.)

02/16/2005

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Why Does Health Care Cost So Much?

By Dr. David Stuchiner

Governor Baldacci has introduced a very ambitious plan to provide healthcare coverage to uninsured Maine citizens. This proposal was met with considerable alarm from hospitals, doctors, some businesses, and insurance companies. Why the controversy? Are these groups not interested in the plight of the uninsured? No, I don’t think so. However, to understand why health insurance is so expensive, it’s important to have a basic understanding of how America’s healthcare system is financed.

The federal government pays for the Medicare program, the nation’s biggest healthcare insurance program. Even though Medicare patients pay 20 percent of their bills, the amount they pay, combined with the amount the Federal government pays, covers only a portion of the actual cost of care. Medicare also pays different rates to hospitals in every state. Maine’s hospitals are near the bottom of that list – receiving among the smallest payments for Medicare services in the United States!

Medicaid is another large government health insurance program. Medicaid is funded by the federal Government, with additional contributions from states. MaineCare is a similar program that was created to help pay for healthcare for low income Maine people. These two programs also don’t come close to paying what it actually costs to care for their clients.

What about the uninsured? Many uninsured Mainer’s don’t get the preventive care they need, and that is a tragedy that needs to be addressed. But they do get free care at our emergency rooms, hospitals, and hospital clinics,

Who pays for what the federal government doesn’t pay? Who pays for what the state of Maine doesn’t pay? Who pays for the free care? Sadly, it is commercial insurance – the kind that small businesses and the uninsured are offered. They shoulder the costs that Medicare and Medicaid and MaineCare and the uninsured don’t pay!

Is this system ridiculous? Of course it is! Trish Riley, director of the Governor’s Healthcare Policy Office, says that when everyone has healthcare insurance, the costs will go down. But insurance costs can’t really go down until the state and federal government shoulder their full burden! “Cost shifting” from government programs businesses and individuals represents a hidden state and federal tax!

What do Maine hospitals spend their money on? Could we spend less money? Is there a “medical arms race”?

People make up the largest expense for hospitals. Good healthcare requires good people. Salaries have to be paid to nurses, pharmacists, lab technicians, housekeepers, maintenance operators, and in some cases, physicians. These people are the lifeblood of healthcare in Maine. They are your friends, neighbors and relatives who dedicate their lives and careers to taking care of their communities. Hospitals want and need well trained nurses. There is a severe nursing shortage in America that will continue for many years. Nursing salaries are rising as hospitals around the country compete for this scarce resource. Maine hospitals have to be able to attract high quality nurses who have the skills we need to care for our aging population.

We all know that medications are expensive. Hospitals can’t go to Canada to buy their drugs. Maine people deserve to have the best medications to fight disease. Many new treatments are developed every year that require costly new medicines to save lives. Maine people are living longer, more productive lives because these treatments are available.

Hospitals can’t skimp on modern diagnostic tools either. These are the tools that doctors and patients ask for. These are the CT scanners and MRI machines that give us diagnostic answers more quickly, more accurately and with less discomfort than previous methods.

Many hospitals employ physicians to provide needed services such as primary care in remote areas, and some specialty services. Low reimbursement rates for these specialties prevent these physician practices from standing on their own. Many rural areas of America do not have primary care practices but Maine is better off than most because of hospital support.

Hospitals also have to pay for electricity, heating oil, food, maintenance and repairs to aging buildings and equipment.

What else do hospitals pay for? Lifeflight of Maine, for example – the statewide helicopter air ambulance service available for all Mainers. How about the Maine Trauma System? The integrated Trauma System provides care to critically injured or ill individuals throughout the state. Maine is the only state in America where all hospitals participate in a voluntary system of trauma care. This goes a long way toward saving lives.

Many Maine hospitals are investing in computer technology that has been shown to increase quality of care and reduce costly and dangerous medical errors. These systems cost millions of dollars. You would think that the federal government and the state would help to pay for these systems directly, since they ultimately reduce costly errors that Medicare and Medicaid have to pay for. But the sad fact is that the state and federal governments are not directly paying for any of these systems. Instead, hospitals are investing in them simply because it is the right thing to do. But hospitals need to have a financial “profit”, so they can plow that money back to buy all this expensive equipment that improves our healthcare.

So how does Maine stack up against other states on things like quality? The federal government recently rated Maine’s healthcare system as the third best in the country! And Maine has avoided many of the serious problems my colleagues are dealing with around the country … like the Nevada Trauma Center that had to close because it did not have the surgeons it needed to care for patients … or in West Virginia, where patients cannot get routine surgery. In many cities, ambulances drive around for hours looking for an emergency room that can take their patients. In many parts of the country, patients who do make it into the ER may spend days on a gurney waiting for an available inpatient bed. Thankfully, we don’t have these problems in Maine. But the high quality system we have and deserve costs money.

I am proud that Maine people have a healthcare system that the rest of the country recognizes as one of the best. That is due in part because Maine hospitals and Maine doctors have worked together to ensure that their communities have the medical resources they need and deserve. It is also because Maine’s hospitals are community based charitable organizations with community governing boards that determine the needs of their communities. Our healthcare system may seem expensive, but I don’t believe Mainers would tolerate the problems that other Americans face from their healthcare system.

So as we try to find ways to pay for the uninsured, we must not forget to preserve what we have built. As the line from the song goes … “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone…”.

I invite Trish Riley and the Governor to acknowledge their responsibility to adequately fund the current Medicare, Medicaid and MaineCare programs – only then can small businesses and the uninsured find insurance rates that are affordable. Destroying the quality of healthcare in Maine is no way to save money.

02/16/2005

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CMMC School of Radiologic Technology

Students Receive Awards

Students from the Clark F. Miller School of Radiologic Technology at Central Maine Medical Center School took four awards at the annual meeting of the Maine Society of Radiologic Technologists.

Patty Leslie of Topsham, a junior radiography student, received second prize in the Maine Society of Radiologic Technologists (MSRT) Student Scientific Exhibit for her exhibit, “Intradiscal Electrothermal Annuloplasty.” The exhibit took the $250 prize.

"Positron Emission Tomography," an entry by senior radiography student Jonathan Turner of Jay, took second place in the MSRT Student Essay Contest. The entry received a $150 prize.

Senior radiography student Doug Clark of Auburn received third place and a $100 prize for his essay, “The Use of Intravascular Brachytherapy in Preventing Restenosis.”

Irene Dube of Auburn, a junior radiography student, won an honorable mention for her essay entitled, “Radioimmunotherapy in the Treatment of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.”

The Maine Society of Radiologic Technologists student exhibit is open to all students currently enrolled in a radiologic science program. There are five schools of radiologic science in Maine.

The CMMC School of Radiologic Technology was founded by the late Clark F. Miller, M.D., in 1949. It was the first school of its kind in Maine.

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New Monitoring System

Improves Patient Safety and Enhances Care

Central Maine Medical Center has implemented a new monitoring system that care providers say improves patient safety and enhances care.

The newly installed Philips OB Trace Vue fetal monitoring system allows CMMC care providers to monitor laboring mothers-to-be from multiple locations, better assuring that changes in health status will be promptly detected. The system also allows care providers to complete patient charting by entering clinical information directly into a customized digital medical record that can be called up at the patient’s beside.

“I can’t say too much about how much I love this new system,” says registered nurse Susan Clough of CMMC’s Special Delivery Family Birthing Unit. “It’s really unbelievable. It’s the best thing to come down the pike in a long time.”

Susan Clough, a 31-year maternity nursing veteran who holds special certification in obstetrical nursing, says the eight fetal monitors in use at CMMC have improved patient safety, streamlined the patient record-keeping process, and granted nurses more time to spend with patients. The system even charts what Clough calls “patient episodes,” such as labor checks and other events that happen separately from the mother’s actual admission to give birth.

“Everything is now right there at your fingertips at the bedside,” Clough says. “This fetal monitoring system is top-notch. We can enter information into a patient's chart right in her room, making it easier to keep the chart up to date. All the statistics, all the charting information is now available in one location and an authorized care provider can access everything at once. The system has streamlined the charting process and eliminated a lot of paperwork. But the best thing is, I think, it lets you spend more time with the patient.”

The Philips OB Trace Vue is a fetal monitoring system that records heartbeat rhythms and uterine contractions. It also provides information about the mother’s blood pressure and blood oxygen levels. Finally, the system can display information about basic cardiac functions on a flat-panel display, although “hard copies” can be produced if required.

In addition to providing patient information at the bedside, the fetal monitoring system is connected to a central monitoring system at the Special Delivery Unit’s nursing station. Each patient’s obstetrician or midwife can also access real-time information at their office and even at their home through a secure broadband connection. To assure patient confidentiality, patient information can be easily hidden from view. As with paper records, digital medical records regarding each patient must be approved by a physician.

All patient charts entered into the OB Trace Vue system are archived on compact disc. These records are also backed up every 24 hours and again at year’s end. Clough says the system installed at CMMC has the capacity to store 300,000 patient records.

Moira Shanahan, M.D., chief of the CMMC Obstetrics-Gynecology Department, says the fetal monitoring system offers advantages for both care providers and patients.

“It’s a very convenient system to use. I have much better access to patient information when I’m working in my office. The information can’t be lost and is literally only a couple clicks away. It promotes much better chart reviews for quality assurance purposes, particularly in regards to reviewing heart monitor strips. Now, I can go back for a day or six months and pull up a record. This is all extremely helpful for case review and teaching purposes. It’s a great system,” Shanahan says.

Photo caption: Susan Clough, a 31-year maternity nursing veteran who holds special certification in obstetrical nursing, says the eight fetal monitors in use at Central Maine Medical Center have improved patient safety, streamlined the patient record-keeping process, and granted nurses more time to spend with patients.

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LifeFlight of Maine Earns Award

LifeFlight of Maine earned a special Merit and Leadership Award at the Mid Coast Emergency Medical Services (MCEMS) annual conference and banquet earlier this month. The conference, at the Samoset Resort in Rockport attracted nearly 500 EMS providers from across the state.

During the award presentation, MCEMS noted that in reviewing every submission for the Extraordinary Call category, the judges noticed a common theme of LifeFlight being an integral component of each story. Additionally, the group praised LifeFlight's educational outreach efforts, building Maine's air medical system, and the ecumenical approach that LifeFlight takes in managing patients and putting the patient first.

In the past 24 years, MCEMS has awarded the Merit and Leadership Award only three times-LifeFlight's Merit and Leadership award marks the first time an organization has been honored. LifeFlight of Maine executive director Tom Judge said, " It's a great honor to be recognized by our colleagues. And it was both humbling and gratifying for us to receive a standing ovation from the entire room as the LifeFlight crew accepted this prestigious award."

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CMMC to Ban Use of Tobacco Products

Beginning November 18th

Central Maine Medical Center will ban the use of tobacco products on its entire campus beginning November 18.

To ensure a healthy and safe environment for everyone at Central Maine Medical Center, the facility will become tobacco free on the day of the Great American Smokeout. The ban will include all tobacco products and will extend to all Central Maine Medical Center-Central Maine Healthcare property.

During the transition to a tobacco-free environment, the hospital will offer assistance to smokers who would like to quit.

For more information, call Healthy Androscoggin at 795-5990, visit

www.healthyandroscoggin.org or access the Maine Tobacco Helpline at 1-800-207-1230.

Other resources

CMMC Health and Wellness Services 795-2473

American Cancer Society 1-800-464-3102

American Heart Association of Maine

1-800-937-0944

American Lung Association of Maine

1-800-499-5804

Thank you for not smoking at CMMC.

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Matthew D. Flaherty, M.D

Joins Central Maine Heart Associates

Matthew D. Flaherty, M.D., a cardiac anesthesiologist, has been appointed to the Central Maine Medical Center Medical Staff. He is practicing with Central Maine Heart Associates and is a member of the physician staff at the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Insititute.

Prior to beginning his practice in the Lewiston-Auburn area, Flaherty practiced with Greeley Anesthesia Specialists at North Colorado Medical Center (NCMC) in Greeley, Colo., where he served as director of Surgical Services. During his time at NCMC he held several medical staff positions, including chief of staff.

He was also an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Denver General Hospital’s Department of Anesthesiology, which is affiliated with the University of Colorado.

Flaherty hold’s a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and a master’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. He earned his medical degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

His academic achievements were recongized with a number of awards, including an Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award and an Outstanding Resident of the Year Award from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Flaherty served an internship in general surgery at St. Joseph Hospital in Denver and a residency in anesthesiology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, also in Denver.

He is certified in anesthesiology by the American Board of Anesthesiology. He is also certified as an Advanced Burn Life Support provider and instructor and an Advanced Cardiac Life Support provider.

Central Maine Heart Associates also includes Richard P. Cochran, M.D., CMHVI’s director of cardiac surgery, William J. Phillips, M.D., CMHVI’s director of interventional and diagnostic cardiology, cardiac surgeon Carmine Frumiento, M.D., interventional and diagnostic cardiologist Mark E. Lanzieri, M.D., cardiologists Richard F. Klonoski, M.D., Frances A. DeRook, M.D., and Keith A. Comess, M.D., and cardiac anesthesiologist Christopher A. Mills, M.D.

The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute, a division of CMMC, offers a comprehensive program for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease. The CMHVI single-stay unit features a unique nursing care model that adjusts to the patient’s evolving needs, allowing the patient to remain in one room from admission to discharge. CMHVI also maintains a prevention and screening program highlighted by the ScoreKeeper, a sophisticated cardiac risk assessment service.

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CMMC Junior Volunteers

The Central Maine Medical Center Junior Volunteer Program includes both new youngsters and “seasoned” volunteers. Junior volunteers at CMMC range from 13 to 17 years of age. Each summer juniors contribute up to 6,000 hours of service to CMMC by running errands, performing clerical functions, covering information desks, as well as many other duties They are oriented and trained to provide volunteer services in ancillary and direct patient care areas throughout the hospital. The youngsters are encouraged to develop learning skills, make new friends, interact with employees and senior volunteers, ask questions, and most of all, have fun. The volunteer experience also encourages them to learn about career opportunities in healthcare and to job shadow in both clinical and non-clinical disciplines. If they wish, they may volunteer at CMMC during school vacations and teacher workshops. Applications for next summer’s Junior Volunteer Program will be available on January 1.

Participating in this summer’s CMMC Junior Volunteers Program were the following: Floor, front row left to right, Brian McKeown of Lewiston, Rachel Larkin of Lewiston, Mindy Hodgkin of Lewiston, Heidi Bean of Leeds, Nina DeSoi of Greene, Ariane Bowie of Greene, Sucheta DeSai of Auburn, Ashley LaGrange of Lewiston, Lindsey Freeman of Minot, Megan McDonald of Hebron; back row, left to right, Sue Bowie, Director of Volunteer Services, Alyssa Barnies of Lewiston, Rudy Cyr of Auburn, Randi Record of Lewiston, Jasmine McLoughlin of Auburn, Joanna Hughes of Auburn, Andrew Eldridge of Gray, Lauren Carmichael of Poland, Bobby Logan of Lisbon, Zeke Pendexter of New Gloucester, Joe Ripley of Gray, Nathan Laliberte of Greene, David John of Monmouth

Stairs, left to right, Eric Prue of Auburn, Emily Law of Lisbon, Morgan Nuzzo of Litchfield, Dustin Oberlander of Lewiston, Spencer Teixeira of Sabattus, Courtney Stewart of Lisbon, Kaylee Rushton of Lewiston, Kristina Chick of Lewiston, Christine Chamberland of Auburn, Michael Girouard of Mechanic Falls, Kyla Nutting of Lewiston, Becky Pelletier of Lewiston, Erica Belanger of Lewiston, Sara Rohman of Auburn, Jennifer Rancourt of Lewiston, Tyler Snow of New Gloucester

Absent from photo, Krysten Applegate of Lewiston, Brooke Bernier of Greene, Morgen Bernier of Greene, Tammy Fecteau of Lewiston, Jessica Fields of Greene, Aaron Gilks of Sabattus, Bethany Goodwin of Lisbon, Courtney Haskell of Auburn, Katelyn Kirk of Leeds, Kayla Lajoie of Lewiston, Matthew Leveille of Lewiston, Amy Marron of Auburn, Kevin McKeown of Lewiston, Karin Skalina of Portland

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Thank You Central & Western Maine

The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute in Lewiston recently celebrated its first anniversary. We want to acknowledge all of the people who have made our program a success.

Our thanks to the more than 130 physicians who referred patients from nearly every community in the region to CMHVI.

Thanks also to the staffs at Bridgton, Franklin Memorial, Maine General, Miscast, Rumford, and Stephens Memorial hospitals, Parkview Adventist Medical Center, and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, where patients were first treated and later transferred to CMHVI for advanced cardiac care.

We extend our gratitude to the governing boards, staffs, and our physician colleagues at the Central Maine Medical Family.

And most of all, our thanks to the patients and family members who trusted us to provide the very highest level of cardiac patient care.

CMHVI provides diagnostic cardiology, cardiac catheterization, cardiac angioplasty and stents, including drug-eluting stents, cardiac bypass surgery, valve surgery, minimally invasive thoracic surgery, and vascular surgery.

Since opening in May 2003, the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute has:

  • Performed over 400 cardiac angioplasty and cardiac surgery procedures
  • Offered emergency cardiac angioplasty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • Scored in the top 1% of all cardiac programs for customer satisfaction

Best of all, the overwhelming majority of patients referred to CMHVI remain close to home while receiving advanced cardiac care.

That’s what you asked for and we are delivering on our promise.

CMHVI is open to all patients and accepting referrals from any physician.

Central Maine Heart & Vascular Institute
Medical Office Complex
300 Main Street, Lewiston
207-753-3900
www.cmhvi.org

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CMMC Family Practice Residency Program

Welcomes New Family Residents

Seven new medical school graduates have joined the Central Maine Medical Center Family Practice Residency Program. Beginning their training in the three-year residency program are the following: from left, front row, Christopher Cieurzo, M.D. (University of Vermont College of Medicine); Manju Hilary, M.D. (Kasturba Medical College); Catherine Harrington, M.D. (Ross University School of Medicine); and Christine Tremblay, D.O. (University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine); back row, Stephen Kulcsar, D.O. (Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine); Shakeel Kahn, M.D. (Central America Health Sciences University); and Kirk Silver, M.D. (University of Kentucky College of Medicine). In order to be eligible to gain certification from the American Board of Family Practice, the residents must complete a three-year postgraduate residency training program. Each doctor will provide care to a group of patients-families from various life stages. Their training experience will include pregnancy, managing labor and delivering the baby, as well as infant care, and care of children, adolescents, adults and elder adults. They work at both the CMMC Oscar Treat Turner Family Practice Center at 76 High Street in Lewiston and at CMMC. Their teachers include primary care doctors and sub-specialist physicians. The mission of CMMC’s Family Practice Residency Program, now in its 27th year of operation, is to graduate highly trained physicians who are prepared to begin family practices in a rural area.

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CMMC Adult Volunteers

Annual Appreciation Banquet


From left, Dick Leavitt; Jane Holmes; Harold Lucas; Maryanne Jackman; Pam Heald; Roy Lowe; Gretchen Ward of Lewiston; Susan Bowie, director of Volunteer Services at CMMC; and Edgar Lane

Central Maine Medical Center’s adult volunteers gathered recently at the hospital for their annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet.

Among those honored was Anthe James of Lewiston, who has given 58 year of service as a Woman's Hospital Association Gift Shop volunteer.

CMMC’s adult volunteers were collectively honored for giving over 58,000 hours of service to the hospital last year.

A number of CMMC managers acknowledged individual volunteers in a post-dinner ceremony. Many of those who recognized their volunteers spoke of how important volunteer support is in maintaining day-to-day activities at CMMC.

“The evening was a splendid affair with entertainment provided by singing duo Side By Side. The event’s theme was “casino,” complete with decorations and gifts in ‘Vegas style,’ ” said CMMC Volunteers Director Susan Bowie.

The following volunteers were honored at the Appreciation Banquet:

100 hours or less of service

Debra Angelides and Snoopy (service dog) of Sidney, 36 hours; Joline Beaudoin, 81 hours; H.W. Beatty of Windham, 70 hours; Connie Bishop of Auburn, 67 hours; Crystal Brown, 62 hours; Gisele Chabot of Lewiston, 44 hours; Joe DeFilip, 61 hours; Sarah Deletetsky of Auburn, 75 hours; Siggy Fields of Auburn, 25 hours; Esther Gould of Brunswick, 99 hours; Debra Hamner, five hours; Phyllis Henderson of Auburn, 92 hours; Jane Holmes of Norway, 23 hours; Barbara Kern of Auburn, 12 hours; Kim Knight of Auburn, five hours; Jean Libby of Auburn, 25 hours; Ruth Michaud of Auburn, 26 hours; Troy Morgan of Auburn, eight hours; Sue Peters of Lewiston, 16 hours; Ben Roberts of Litchfield, 40 hours; Carla Scott, 93 hours; Valerie Seamon, 15 hours; Jane Stone of Raymond, 30 hours; Carla Thibault of Auburn, 11 hours; Marilyn Vanier of Auburn, 25 hours; Bud Wilcox of Lewiston, 55 hours; Ruth Young of Naples, 25 hours; and Mike Zubiate of Auburn, 50 hours.

100 to 500 hours of service

Anne Ceplikas of Auburn, 278 hours; Priscilla Band of Lewiston, 345 hours; Lorraine Bolen of Lewiston, 107 hours; Dick Bussiere of Auburn, 464 hours; Henry Coombs of Auburn, 227 hours; Lillian Coombs of Auburn, 356 hours; Judy Carver of Poland Spring, 824 hours; Pat Duval of Auburn, 289 hours; Lorraine Hamann of Lewiston, 388 hours; Virginia Jones of Rumford, 130 hours; Priscilla Lavoie of Lewiston, 197 hours; Marsha McKenna of Rumford, 156 hours; Claire Naum of Auburn, 162 hours; Sue O'Leary of Lisbon, 134 hours; Tonie Ramsey of Auburn, 352 hours; Lorraine Samson of Lewiston, 175 hours; Janice Sites of Lewiston, 107 hours; Anne Tetreault of Lewiston, 184 hours; Art Turley of Lewiston, 372 hours; Lorraine Vaillancourt of Auburn, 130 hours; Vergie Wade of Monmouth, 480 hours; Pam Washington of Rumford, 130 hours; Gretchen Ward of Lewiston, 336 hours; and Ruth Young of Naples, 25 hours.

500 to 1000 hours

Rita Beaulieu of Lewiston, 874 hours; Joe Bennett of Lewiston, 511 hours; Carol Berg of Auburn, 784 hours; Pete Bouchard of Lewiston, 692 hours; Betty Bubier of Greene, 560 hours; Pauline Burns of Auburn, 949 hours; Gillian Curtis of Greene, 727 hours; Larry Doble of Lisbon Falls, 570 hours; Sylvia Fisher of Hartford, 676 hours; Lorna Fournier of Auburn, 742 hours; Dale Gowell of Auburn, 842 hours; Jean Hamel of Auburn, 650 hours; Pam Heald of Buckfield, 650 hours; Judy Holbrook of Auburn, 874 hours; Barbara Lander of Auburn, 974 hours; Jeanne Laliberte of Auburn, 842 hours; Norm Laliberte of Auburn, 903 hours; Veny Lavoie of Lewiston, 781 hours; Frank McAvoy of Lewiston, 771 hours; Roger Nadeau of Lewiston, 791 hours; Joan Neal of Auburn, 830 hours; Claire Poirier of Auburn, 724 hours; Bob Saindon of Auburn, 716 hours; Ann Walton of Lewiston, 603 hours; Evelyn Thomas of Lewiston, 655 hours; and Harold Warner of Auburn, 666 hours.

1,000 to 2,000 hours:

B. Bernier of Litchfield, 1,454 hours; Marie Banville of Lewiston, 1,688 hours; Janice Bilodeau of Auburn, 1,818 hours; Pauline Blais of Lewiston, 1,460 hours; Connie Brann of Auburn, 1,830 hours; Florence Chandonnet of Lewiston, 1,568 hours; Mildred Dumais of Auburn, 1,064 hours; Jean Gilbert of Turner, 1,941 hours; Carol Kypta of Lewiston, 1,937 hours; Ed Lane of Turner, 1,103 hours; Bruce Macomber of Auburn, 1,032 hours; Mary Morgan of Greene, 1,358 hours; Pat Records of Turner, 1,494 hours; Glenys Ryder of Danville, 1,019 hours; Wes Ryder of Danville, 1,049 hours; Ray Turcotte of Lewiston, 1,787 hours; Brenda Weeks of Auburn, 1,269 hours; and Don Weeks of Auburn, 1,825 hours.

2,000 to 3,000 hours

Muriel Adams of Auburn, 2,101 hours; Betty Audet of Lewiston, 2,235 hours; Bruce Bartlett of Auburn, 2,590 hours; Cep Ceplikas of Auburn, 2,077 hours; Joan Levenson of Auburn, 2,400 hours; Judy Moreau of Lewiston, 2,300 hours; Mildred Rideout of Greene, 2,850 hours; Jackie Thornton of Lewiston, 2,516 hours; Ken Thurlow of Mechanic Falls, 2,943 hours; Dick Therrien of Lewiston, 2,280 hours; Bea Wailus of Greene, 2,648 hours; and Nancy Warner of Auburn, 2,854 hours.

3,000 to 4,000 hours

Mike Bussiere of Lewiston, 3,348 hours; Lennie Butler of Auburn, 3,569 hours; Jackie Culina of Auburn, 3,734 hours; Pauline Fournier of Lewiston, 3,839 hours; Betty Giroux of Lewiston, 3,398 hours; Helen Hewins of Greene, 3,372 hours; Harold Lucas of Auburn, 3,356 hours; Jim McDonough of Auburn, 3,148 hours; Louise Plouff of Greene, 3,375 hours; Esther Robinson of Auburn, 3,771 hours; Ellie Rolerson of Lewiston, 3,055 hours; and Lucille Welch of Lewiston, 3,860 hours.

4,000 to 5,000 hours:

Mary Brogan of Greene, 4,211 hours; Lora Clark of Auburn, 4,436 hours; Dick Gould of Brunswick, 4,567 hours; Jackie Harkins of Mechanic Falls, 4,498 hours; Roy Lowe of New Gloucester, 4,183 hours; Don Nason of Auburn, 4,369 hours; and Glen Spiller of Lewiston, 4,008 hours.

5,000 to 6,000 hours

Annette Dubuc of Lewiston, 5,883 hours; Marion Hammond of Greene, 5,274 hours; and Phyllis Latlippe of Auburn, 5,712 hours.

6,000 to 7,000 hours

Ray Ames of Lewiston, 6,987 hours; Mary Ann Jackman of Minot, 6,250 hours; Dick Leavitt of Auburn, 6,190 hours; and Gabe Parent of Auburn, 6,132 hours.

7,000 to 8,000 hours

Hartley Fogg of Auburn, 7,135 hours

Over 8,000 hours:

Marie Vickery of Auburn, 9,330 hours; Helen McGuire of Lewiston, 10,164 hours; Eileen Danforth of Lewiston, 11,206 hours; Aneta Belanger of Greene, 13,470 hours; and Mary Nichols of Lewiston, 14,474 hours.

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CMMC named a "Compassionate Friend"

By national group

Central Maine Medical Center was recognized recently by The Compassionate Friends, an Oak Brook, Ill. — based international support organization with nearly 600 chapters in the United States, including an office in Maine.

CMMC was one of 46 Compassionate Friends award-winners recognized nationwide “for showing extra sensitivity to workers who have suffered the death of a child, sibling, or grandchild,” according to the organization.

The award recognizes the reaction of CMMC’s first-floor Thompson Wing (T1) Medical-Surgical Nursing Unit staff to the death of one of its member’s son in September 2001. The T1 staff rallied around Shari Herrick, R.N., after the devastating loss of her 15-year-old son, Scott Hill, in an accident. Shari later recommended CMMC for the award.

Employers are generally nominated by the persons they have directly helped. The Compassionate Employer Recognition Award for 2003 was made to employers nationwide “for going above and beyond the normal policies . . . in helping their employees when the death of a child occurred,” the organization said in announcing the award.

The criteria for Compassionate Employer Recognition are:

• Corporate policies that reflect a compassionate attitude toward bereaved parents, siblings, and grandparents.

• Personal support extended by the management team toward the bereaved on staff following the child’s death.

• Caring attitude demonstrated by employer’s entire work force.

• Flexibility in work assignments and evaluation of job performance during the stress and personal pain associated with the death of a child.

• All other acts of compassion that bereaved parents and siblings will forever remember.

“Sherri really felt that we were there for her. She was just thankful for all of us being supportive to her,” said T1 Manager Karen Richardson.

“For many newly bereaved parents, coping with a job is one of the harshest of their new realities,” explained Compassionate Friends Board President David Pellegrin in announcing the recipient companies. “Employer sensitivity can have a tremendously positive impact on workers directly affected by the tragic loss of a child. So it’s especially gratifying to see such an increase in the number of employers receiving recognition for their compassion.”

Other New England-based recipients of the 2003 Compassionate Employer Recognition award are: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Mass; Federal Express, Framingham, Mass; Pepperell Family Practice, Inc. Pepperell, Mass; and Surebridge, Inc., Lexington, Mass.

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CMMC's Woman's Hospital Association

Presents contribution

Sharon Poulin, president of the Central Maine Medical Center Woman’s Hospital Association (WHA), presents a check for $28,300 to CMMC President and Chief Executive Officer Peter E. Chalke.

During the 2002-2003 fiscal year, the WHA contributed $50,763 to the Medical Center. WHA funds supported several projects and activities, including the Arbor House Endowment and the Cancer Immediate Needs Fund.

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Cynthia A. Rydholm Cancer Treatment Center offers IMRT

A new radiation therapy treatment for cancer

Central Maine Medical Center’s Cynthia A. Rydholm Cancer Treatment Center is the first radiation therapy center in Maine to use intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), a precise and advanced approach to 3-D radiation therapy.

Doctors have long used radiation to destroy cancers in their patients. But a barrier to even wider use of radiation as a cancer-fighting tool has been the limitations on the ability to target tumor cells without harming surrounding healthy tissue.

CMMC’s Rydholm Center recently became the first cancer treatment center in Maine to treat patients with IMRT. Radiation oncologists at the Lewiston hospital are using IMRT technology to deliver uniform doses of radiation to tumors while sparing surrounding, normal tissues. IMRT uses a computer-controlled device called a multi-leaf collimator to change the beam intensity across the surface of the tumor. This method of treatment delivers an appropriate dose of radiation to the cancer, but spares normal tissue. In many cases, radiation delivered very precisely by IMRT can be used to destroy a tumor instead of only reducing it.

“IMRT allows us to protect healthy tissue while delivering higher radiation doses to the tumors,” says Grenville Jones, M.D., radiation oncologist at the Cancer Center. “Patients will experience fewer side effects and the research data indicates improved cure rates. This technology allows us to treat tumors to a higher dose which results in greater cure rates.”

IMRT is currently being used at CMMC to treat patients with prostate cancer and will be expanded to brain, head and neck, breast, lung, pancreatic, and other cancers in the future.

Central Maine Medical Center has been designated as a comprehensive community hospital cancer program by the American College of Surgeons. Some 800 new cancer patients diagnosed or treated at the hospital each year. The Cynthia A. Rydholm Cancer Treatment Center treats 500 patients each year and offers a comprehensive scope of services including traditional radiation therapy, radioactive seed implants, and now IMRT.

For further information call the Cynthia A. Rydholm Cancer Treatment Center at (207) 795-2440

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CMMC Medical Imaging Schools

Graduate Eight Students


From left, first row, Morgan Smith of York; Sarah Wing of Richmond; and Diana York of Belgrade; second row, Heather Taylor of Fayette; Remicca Levesque of Auburn; and Michelle Petela of Gardiner

CMMC medical imaging schools graduate eight students Central Maine Medical Center’s medical imaging schools graduated eight students recently at joint commencement exercises.

The Clark F. Miller School of Radiologic Technology and the School of Nuclear Medicine Technology graduated six radiologic technology students and two nuclear medicine technologists at a ceremony held at the United Baptist Church in Lewiston.

At its 59th commencement exercises, the School of Radiologic Technology graduated students who have completed the school’s accredited 24-month course that emphasizes classroom and clinical training.

Graduating from the School of Radiologic Technology were the following: Morgan Smith of York; Sarah Wing of Richmond; Diana York of Belgrade; Heather Taylor of Fayette; Remicca Levesque of Auburn; and Michelle Petela of Gardiner.

The Central Maine Medical Center School of Nuclear Medicine Technology graduated Tara Anderson of East Millinocket and Robin Richard of Livermore Falls.

The radiologic technology graduates are eligible to take the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) examination in radiography. Students passing the exam will become nationally certified radiologic technologists. The six students also completed Central Maine Community College’s requirements for associate of applied science degrees, which they were awarded in May.

The nuclear medicine graduates are eligible to take the ARRT certification examination or the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board examination in nuclear medicine technology. Given special recognition at the ceremony was Diana York, who was presented with the Clark F. Miller Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement. The award goes to the student having the highest overall grade-point average.

Diana was also presented The Student Leadership Award, which is given to the student who demonstrates exceptional leadership abilities in the classroom, in clinical settings and with underclassmen. The winner of this award is determined by a vote of fellow students and the school’s faculty. The award is sponsored by Nycomed Pharmaceuticals in Newburyport, Mass.

Sarah Wing was awarded The Central Maine Medical Center Award of Excellence, which is presented to the student who has contributed the most to the Radiology and Medical Imaging Department during his or her education at CMMC. Each member of the CMMC Radiology and Medical Imaging Department is eligible to vote for the person they feel should receive the CMMC Award of Excellence. The student selected to receive the award is the individual who others feel has displayed the greatest dedication to the department and to the profession of radiologic technology.

Sarah also took the Clark F. Miller Award for Clinical Excellence that is given to the student with the highest clinical scores.The Miller awards are named for the founder of the state’s first radiologic technology school, which was established at CMMC in 1949. Promoted to seniors during the ceremony were: Mary Cadman of Harrison, Douglas Clark of Auburn, Henry Fossett of Augusta, Eric Gagne of Oakland, Lori Guiggey of Auburn, Heather Lagasse of Caribou, Laurie Pelletier of Gray and Jonathan Turner of Jay. All of the graduates have been offered full-time employment in their field.

The CMMC School of Radiologic Technology, founded as Maine’s first radiologic technology program, has graduated 312 students since its establishment in 1949.

Since its creation six years ago, the School of Nuclear Medicine Technology has graduated nine students. It is currently the only program of its kind in Maine.

The CMMC medical imaging schools serve an important role in providing trained imaging professionals to fill a growing number of diagnostic and therapeutic positions throughout the nation. Maine, like most other states, is experiencing a shortage of medical imaging professionals.

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Central Maine Obstetrics-Gynecology

Welcomes Ingrid A. Maniaci, M.D.


Ingrid A. Maniaci, M.D.

Central Maine Obstetrics-Gynecology welcomes new doctor Ingrid A. Maniaci, M.D., an obstetrician-gynecologist, has been appointed to the Central Maine Medical Center Medical Staff. She is practicing in association with Central Maine Obstetrics-Gynecology at 12 High Street, Suite 200, in Lewiston.

She recently completed residency training through the Baystate Medical Center-Tufts University Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Program in Springfield, Mass., where she was appointed a clinical associate. She also served as a resident physician at Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc, Mich., and Detroit Medical Center-Hutzel Hospital in Detroit.

A graduate of the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, N.D., she earned her medical degree at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in East Lansing, Mich.

She is the recipient of several academic awards. She is also affiliated with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association.

Prior to beginning her medical studies, Dr. Maniaci worked for 10 years in the healthcare field.

She lives in Auburn with her husband, Antonio. She has two grown daughters.

“Having raised two daughters, caring for women comes naturally to me,” Maniaci says. “Whether a woman is feeling vulnerable or feeling strong, she can face very sensitive issues. She should be comfortable with her healthcare.”

She says she decided to practice in the Lewiston-Auburn area and at Central Maine Obstetrics-Gynecology, in particular, because of the “incredible collaborative working atmosphere between providers and the welcoming atmosphere of the community.”

Central Maine Obstetrics-Gynecology is a group practice of physicians, nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners that is dedicated to the healthcare needs of women. The other direct care providers comprising the practice are: obstetrician-gynecologists Thomas E. Page, D.O., Moira A. Shanahan, M.D., and Jennifer Weiner-Smith, M.D.,; gynecologist Susan W. Gaylord, M.D.; gynecologist-infertility specialist Michael T. Drouin, M.D.; certified nurse-midwives Irene M. Meyers and Lori Bellwood; and nurse practitioners Elizabeth A. Smith and Barbara Gervais.

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Franklin ScoreKeeper™

Cardiac Prevention and Early Detection Program Expands to a National Audience


Carol Domingue, R.N., clinical case manager for the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute, right, discusses ScoreKeeper results with Sue Turgeon, an employee of Skelton, Taintor and Abbott, an Auburn law firm.

Franklin Memorial Hospital, Central Maine Healthcare, Burgess Record, M.D., and Sandy Record, R.N., today announced the creation of a jointly owned corporation formed to further develop an distribute the Franklin Scorekeeper™ Software and provide related services and consultation to customers in Maine and throughout the nation.

The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute also announced the appointment of Burgess Record, M.D., as the Medical Director for Prevention and Outreach. Dr. Record has had a distinguished 30-year career in Farmington, and is a leader in community health promotion, disease prevention and chronic illness care.

"Comprehensive prevention is a very important part of the new Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute," said Peter Chalke, President and CEO of Central Maine Healthcare. We searched nationally for the best practice model and found it right next door in Franklin County. We are excited to be working with our colleagues in Farmington. Together we plan to reach the 400,000 people who live in central, western and mid-coast Maine and to respond to requests for this program coming from Maine and from away."

Franklin ScoreKeeper™ cardiac prevention and early detection program facilitates patient, physician and nurse counselor interaction. The initial consumer/nurse encounter ends with a clear assessment of the cardiac risk and produces an individually tailored recommendation for lowering the identified risks. The Franklin Scorekeeper™ program is designed to assist health counselors in helping people improve health behaviors and chronic disease self-management.

"Community based prevention programs like Franklin ScoreKeeper™ are an integral part of our approach to improving the health status of the communities we serve," said Richard Batt, President of Franklin Community Health Network and Franklin Memorial Hospital. There are documented results in Franklin County. We have one of the lowest adult smoking rates in Maine, we have seen a decrease in total and cardiovascular deaths, increased life expectancy and reduced healthcare costs for employers and insurance companies."

Franklin ScoreKeeper™ is much more than a simple screening tool. People are monitored on an ongoing basis. At the end of each encounter, the client is given a personalized health status report, a client-driven plan for modifying health behavioral risk and educational materials. The plan is also mailed to the client's physician.

Franklin ScoreKeeper™ is currently being offered at hospitals, physician practices, worksites, schools and community settings.

This is a program with a proven track record of results and is a useful tool for:

    Employers seeking to moderate their healthcare costs
    Physicians who can now easily monitor a patient’s compliance with their personalized health improvement plan
    Insurance companies seeking to add prevention and risk factor reduction component to their health plans
    People seeking to take personal responsibility for their own health

"Franklin ScoreKeeper™ has been recognized nationally as a model to reduce heart disease and stroke by Rural Healthy People 2010," said Burgess Record, M.D. “Reduced to its simplest terms, Franklin ScoreKeeper™ helps health professionals anywhere accomplish guideline-based health promotion, disease prevention an chronic illness care with ease and expertise. This is a made in Maine product that clearly has national significance.”

For further information contact:
Chuck Gill
Vice-President for Public Affairs:
(207) 795-2711:

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CMHVI’s Program Model

Borrows from Franklin Health Model

Intervention is just one component of the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute’s comprehensive cardiovascular care program. Prevention, screening and risk factor control are also central elements of the program.

CMHVI’s prevention and education program incorporates a nationally-recognized model developed just 35 miles north in Farmington, where Burgess Record, M.D., and his wife, Sandy, a registered nurse, created the Western Maine Center for Heart Health. Over a span of nearly three decades, their program has vastly improved cardiac health in the greater Franklin County area. (Click here for more information about ScoreKeeper™, a component of the Western Maine Center for Heart Health program.)

Widely-adopted as a program template, the Franklin Health Model centers on several key concepts, including the use of technology to assure evidence-based care. Evidenced-based care is a central component of the CMHVI’s comprehensive cardiac care program.

Evidence-based clinical practice is oriented around systems of care that have been proven effective. It is a system based on sound research rather than empirical conclusions gathered more by observation than testing. Much of CMHVI’s work is directed by interdisciplinary guidelines based on medical science and tested principles of care.

To accomplish its broad vision for cardiovascular health in central and western Maine, CMHVI adopted the Franklin Health Model and retained the services of Dr. and Mrs. Record.

CMHVI’s enactment of the Franklin Model has included the introduction of numerous prevention and education programs, including:

    Raising Heart Healthy Kids – programs to help children learn about the heart and how to keep it healthy for a lifetime. Topics include: nutrition, physical activity, living tobacco-free, and knowing how the heart works.
    Women’s Heart Advantage – an educational program about prevention and the detection of the risk factors and warning signs of heart disease designed especially for women
    Participation in Healthy Community Coalitions
    Membership in the Maine Cardiovascular Health Council

CMHVI has introduced the Raising Health Heart Kids and Women’s Heart Advantage programs to the greater Lewiston-Auburn region and in the Rumford, Bridgton and Brunswick areas.

The ScoreKeeper™ program, which offers the services of specially trained nurses – supported by Franklin ScoreKeeper™ software – who provide individualized health risk screening, counseling, referral and follow-up, assures a “continuum of care” across many sites.

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ScoreKeeper™

Evolved with Franklin Health Model

In 1974 two healthcare providers affiliated with Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington established the Western Maine Center for Heart Health. The prevention, screening and risk factor control program developed by the center would eventually be recognized as one of the world’s longest lasting and most successful community cardiovascular health initiatives.

With nearly 30 years of proven results, the “Franklin Health Model” – created by Burgess Record, M.D., and his wife, Sandy, a registered nurse – has been associated with improvements in health behaviors (such as smoking cessation), risk factor control (such as high blood pressure), perceived quality of life, health resource utilization (such as preventable hospitalizations), reduced healthcare costs, improved life expectancy and lower death rates.

Adopted as a program template by numerous healthcare and health promotion organizations, including private corporations, the Franklin Health Model employs a strong team approach and centers on several key concepts

    The integration of healthcare, public health and community resources
    Continuous attention to modifiable risk factors among at-risk people
    An intensive education program
    The use of technology to assure evidence-based care

One aspect of the Franklin Model’s outreach and prevention program is the screening program it offers to identify people with risk factors for developing cardiac disease or those who have emergent cardiac disease and might benefit from intervention.

The Franklin Model’s ScoreKeeper™ risk assessment service offers the services of specially trained nurses, supported by Franklin ScoreKeeper software, who offer individualized health risk screening, counseling, referral and follow-up. The ScoreKeeper™ service is now being offered regularly by CMHVI.

The Franklin ScoreKeeper™ software helps individuals, doctors, nurses and other health counselors identify, understand, improve and monitor the many interrelated behaviors, risk factors, illnesses and other factors that contribute to a person’s health status. Using laptop computers, nurses take ScoreKeeper™ to doctors’ offices, worksites, schools and community clinics.

A ScoreKeeper™ encounter can take as little as five minutes or as much as an hour, depending on the location, time available and purpose of the visit. At the conclusion of a ScoreKeeper interview, the individual client receives an easy-to-comprehend personalized report about their health status and their own potential for change. If a person has had several interviews, ScoreKeeper™ will print a flow sheet showing up to the last eight encounters, making it easy to track changes in blood pressure, weight, cholesterol and levels of physical activity. ScoreKeeper™ can also produce a medical report for the individual’s primary care provider.

To date, nearly 600 people have completed the CMHVI ScoreKeeper™ screening process at various locations, including:

Monmouth Health Center

    Bridgton Internal Medicine
    Swift River Health Care, Rumford
    Elsemore Dixfield Center, Dixfield
    Central Maine Cardiology Associates, Lewiston
    Banknorth
    Skelton, Taintor & Abbott, Auburn
    Johns Manville, Lewiston
    American Heart Association screening
    Bureau of Health screening
    Central Maine Medical Center-Central Maine Healthcare

Nearly 40 percent of those who participated in the screening have been referred to their healthcare provider for follow-up care.

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Susan Baltrus, R.N.

Named Educator of the Year


Susan Baltrus, R.N., associate director of the Central Maine Medical Center School of Nursing

Susan Baltrus, R.N., associate director of the Central Maine Medical Center School of Nursing, has been named Educator of the Year by the Maine Council of Associate Degree Nursing Programs.

A member of the CMMC School of Nursing faculty for some 24 years, Baltrus has long been one of the school’s most popular teachers. In her role as the school’s associate director, she is responsible for academic and student affairs. She also teaches medical, surgical and critical care nursing in the classroom and instructs a clinical group in the CMMC Critical Care Unit.

“Sue receives the highest praise from students for both lecture and clinical areas. She is also well respected by nurses and physicians because of her knowledge and skills and her superb communication skills. Her standards are high but she is able to motivate and inspire students to perform to the best of their ability and her enthusiasm and commitment is contagious. She’s very deserving of this recognition,” said Sharon Kuhrt, director of the CMMC School of Nursing.

A graduate of the Central Maine General Hospital (now CMMC) School of Nursing, Baltrus earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing and business from St. Joseph’s College in Windham. In 1992, she was awarded a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Southern Maine in Portland.

In addition to her extensive experience as a nursing educator, Baltrus served for 10 years in nursing management at Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway. She also worked for two years as a staff nurse at Togus Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Togus.

She is certified in medical-surgical nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She is a member of the Maine Association of Associate Degree Nursing Programs (MAADNP). She has been president as well as vice president of that organization.

Her record of community service includes eight years work with the Rape Crisis Hotline and nine years as a March of Dimes Walkathon team captain.

Baltrus lives in Lewiston. She has two grown children; Allison Brown of Woolwich and Matthew Brown of Tucson, Arizona.

Founded in 1891, the Central Maine Medical Center School of Nursing offers a fully-accredited two-year registered nurse education program leading to an associate degree in the applied science of nursing.

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Yue Guo, M.D.

Named to Central Maine Medical Center Medical Staff


Yue Guo, M.D.

Yue Guo, M.D., a medical oncologist-hematologist, has been named to the Central Maine Medical Center Medical Staff. She has joined the group medical oncology-hematology component of CMMC’s Comprehensive Cancer Program. The practice has offices at 12 High Street, Suite 205, in Lewiston.

Guo recently completed a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas.

Prior to beginning her fellowship, she completed a three-year residency in internal medicine at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Guo earned both her bachelor’s degree in medicine and medical degree from Beijing Medical University in Beijing. After graduating from medical school, she worked for four years as a hematology attending physician at The 1st Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical University.

She has contributed to several professional publications throughout her years of research at the National Institute of Health, The Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard Medical School, and Boston Medical Center.

The hematologist-oncologists associated with CMMC Comprehensive Cancer Program provide care for patients with cancer and blood disorders. The practice is also comprised of Hans L. Boedeker, M.D., Nicholette Erickson, M.D., Jeffrey M. Miller, M.D., and Donna K. Thompson, M.D.

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Carmine Frumiento, M.D.

Joins the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute


Carmine Frumiento, M.D.

Carmine Frumiento, M.D., a cardiac surgeon, has joined the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute.

Prior to beginning his work at CMHVI, Frumiento completed a two-year cardiothoracic surgery residency at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wis. During the first year of his residency training, he served under the direction of Richard P. Cochran, M.D. Last year, Cochran joined CMHVI as director of cardiac surgery.

Frumiento’s training includes a special emphasis on minimally invasive procedures.

A graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Frumiento earned his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington, Vt. He completed a five-year general surgical residency at the University of Vermont-Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vt. As an intern, he was selected for the Department of Surgery’s Most Outstanding Intern Award.

He also completed a one-year surgical research fellowship at the University of Vermont-Fletcher Allen Health Care.

During the final year of his general surgical residency, he served as chief general surgical resident. He was also a clinical instructor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine’s Department of Surgery.

Frumiento is certified by the American Board of Surgery.

He is the author of a host of scholarly articles and has made numerous presentations to healthcare professional organizations.

Frumiento is practicing with Central Maine Heart Associates, which also includes William J. Phillips, M.D., CMHVI’s director of interventional and diagnostic cardiology, cardiologist Richard F. Klonoski, M.D., and interventional and diagnostic cardiologist Mark E. Lanzieri, M.D.

The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute, a division of Central Maine Medical Center, opened in the spring of this year. Located in a newly-constructed facility adjacent to CMMC, CMHVI offers a comprehensive program for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease. The CMHVI single-stay unit features a unique nursing care model that adjusts to the patient’s evolving needs, allowing the patient to remain in one room from admission to discharge. CMHVI also maintains a prevention and screening program highlighted by the ScoreKeeper, a sophisticated cardiac risk assessment service.

Frumiento lives in Auburn with his wife, Laurie, and their son, Iain, 3, and daughter, Ellena, 16 months.

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CMMC's Family Practice Residency Program

Welcomes New Residents

Seven recent medical school graduates and two advanced level physicians in training have joined the Central Maine Medical Center Family Practice Residency Program. Joining the program are: from left, seated, Geniene E. Wilson, M.D. (American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles), Magili A. Chapman, D.O. (University Health Sciences in Kansas City) and Michael A. Kaylor, M.D. (University of Utah College of Medicine, Salt Lake City); standing, Timothy E. Burdick, M.D. (a graduate of Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., who transferred to CMMC after successfully completing his first year of residency in Connecticut), Michael Liu, M.D. (East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, N.C.), Narayana K. Padala, M.D. (NTR University of Health Sciences, Warangal, India), Balint L. Budai, M.D. (McGill University School of Medicine in Montreal), Nathan C. Raby, D.O. (University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, Biddeford). Not pictured is Margarita Perchonok, D.O., (who transferred to CMMC from a family practice residency at Tufts in Boston after completing medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.)

All of these physicians are required to complete a three-year post graduate residency training program in family practice in order to be eligible to become board certified family doctors. Each will provide care to a group of patients/families at all stages of life, including pregnancy. They will also deliver babies. In addition, they will spend time at CMMC learning from primary care doctors and subspecialists physicians. The mission of CMMC’s Family Practice Residency Program is to graduate highly trained physicians prepared to begin family practice in a rural area. This year, the CMMC’s Residency Program celebrates its 25th year of educating new physicians. More than 100 doctors have graduated from the program.

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Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute Cardiac Rehabilitation Program

Recertified by AACPR

The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute Cardiac Rehabilitation Program has been recertified by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACPR).

The CMHVI program is one of only 10 Maine-based programs of its kind that has earned AACRP approval, according to Kelly LeBlond, R.N., CMHVI’s manager of cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services.

The certification process, which takes several months to complete, evaluates services using “very strict, best practice-based guidelines,” LeBlond explained. The evaluation considers a program’s policies and procedures, patient satisfaction levels, care outcomes, and long-term program success.

AACRP certification is becoming increasingly important to both healthcare providers and patients, LeBlond said, because in other parts of the country more and more insurance companies are covering only cardiac rehabilitation programs that have earned such a distinction.

The CMHVI Cardiac Rehabilitation Program is a three-phase program that includes both inpatient and outpatient components. Phase I is the bedside component of the program that introduces patients to the concept of cardiac health promotion and prevention prior to discharge. Phase II is conducted immediately after discharge and involves medically-supervised activities in a clinical setting and ongoing risk modification. Phase III is a longer-term exercise program conducted in Central Maine Medical Center Wellness Center.

The CMHVI’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Program was established by Central Maine Medical Center some 20 years ago. When CMMC opened CMHVI last spring, the cardiac center assumed management and clinical oversight of the program.

The AACRP is a national, multi-disciplinary association dedicated to the improvement of clinical practice, promotion of scientific inquiry, and advancement of education for the benefit of cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation professionals and the patients they serve. The AACRP rigorously reviews cardiac/pulmonary rehabilitation programs to determine if they meet essential requirements for standards of care.

Anyone seeking more information about CMHVI’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Program is urged to call 795-2645.

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Karen Baldacci, Maine's First Lady

Tours CMMC's Neonatal Intermediate Care Unit


Karen Baldacci, Maine's first lady and the state’s honorary chairwoman of the March of Dimes' Prematurity Campaign, offers a rose to Deni Sevit, a 4-year-old who weighed only 15 ounces at birth.

Karen Baldacci, Maine's first lady and the state’s honorary chairwoman of the March of Dimes' Prematurity Campaign, toured Central Maine Medical Center's Neonatal Intermediate Care Unit recently as part of an effort to inform the public about the growing number of premature births.

"What's most striking to me is the increase in premature births. In Maine, that's one in 10 births, and we're up 36 percent in 10 years, and we don't know why," Mrs. Baldacci told a gathering on CMMC Special Delivery Family Birthing Center. "The technology is there; we're sav-ing these babies. Our goal with the March of Dimes campaign is to prevent them from being born too early and too small."

The reason for about half of pre-term births isn’t known, she said. Expectant mothers are eating right, taking their vitamins, seeing their doc-tors, gaining the right weight, "and we're still seeing such large increases in the deliveries of premature babies."

Possible factors, she noted, include women wait-ing longer to have babies, more in vitro fertilizations and multiple births, and problems associat-ed with substance abuse.

"With adequate dollars and research, hopeful-ly we can identify those unknowns out there," she said.

Baldacci said she and the governor have had a personal experi-ence with prematurity.

"My sister-in-law had a premature second ba-by. She was in that undefined category. She had a normal full-term first delivery, and though they did everything they should have done, she still had a baby at 32 weeks," she said.

Each week, some 25 pre-term babies are born in Maine.

Surveys show that most people are not aware of the grow-ing number of premature babies and the related health prob-lems often caused by premature birth. As a result, the March of Dimes has mounted a nationwide campaign to inform the public about the issue.

On her arrival at CMMC, Mrs. Baldacci was presented a bouquet of roses by Deni Sevit, a 4-year-old who weighed only 15 ounces at birth. "Without NICU, I'm sure she wouldn't be here," said Linda Sevit, Deni's mother.

Anyone seeking more information about the March of Dimes effort to inform the public about prematurity can visit www.modimes.org on the Internet or call the organization’s Maine Chapter at 207-474-9292.