Rumford Hospital

Dr. Lauren Adey, Orthopaedist at RH Specialty Clinics

RH Auxiliary gives $5000 to 2007-2008 Annual Appeal

Dr. Carolyn Garcia, OB/GYN, joins RH Medical Staff

Dave Duguay joins Rumford Hospital Board

Rumford Hospital cares

RH Lab accredited by College of American Pathologists

RH unveils GEMS

Dr. Lauren Adey, Orthopaedist at RH Specialty Clinics

Dr. Lauren Adey of Central Maine Orthopaedics (CMO) sees patients in the Rumford Hospital Specialty Clinics once a month. She is on the Medical Staff of Central Maine Medical Center and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, as well as Rumford Hospital. Her practice focuses on surgery of the hand, wrist and elbow.

“The most common complaint I see is carpal tunnel,” notes Adey. “It’s prevalent because of the physical nature of many of the jobs in this area.” Although she operates exclusively on hands, she occasionally sees patients with other orthopaedic concerns in the Rumford Hospital Specialty Clinic, evaluating emergency cases or setting a broken bone when another orthopedist will not be in Rumford soon enough.

“Our practice is a sub-specialty practice in Auburn,” Adey explains. “We’re all fellowship trained in an orthopaedic sub-specialty.” Because she believes in specialization, Adey works to make the Rumford Hospital clinics an extension of the Auburn practice. “I believe that is best for patients, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t be the same in Rumford,” Adey says.

Adey came to CMO from the nationally recognized Hand Surgery Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard University Orthopaedic Residency Program in 2005. She also completed a six-month sports medicine fellowship at Children’s Hospital/Beth Israel Hospital.

She graduated cum laude from Williams College and from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Adey is a member of the New England Hand Society, American Society for Surgery of the Hand and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Adey feels her patients are particularly fortunate to have Valerie Jacobs, Occupational Therapist with the Rumford Hospital Rehabilitation Department, right here in the hospital. Jacobs is a certified hand therapist. “I feel as comfortable with Valerie as with the therapist who works right in our practice in Auburn,” she says.

Whereas many physicians want to become physicians and later choose a specialty, Adey chose orthopaedics because of her interest in sports. She was a competitive skier and played other sports in college. “I went into med school knowing that orthopaedics would be my specialty,” she notes.

Adey grew up in MA, went to school in NH and was lured to Maine by a medical school friend who had begun practicing in Auburn. Adey, her husband and three small children enjoy outdoor activities, including skiing.

A variety of specialists come to Rumford Hospital’s Specialty Clinics on a regular basis, so that people from the River Valley don’t have to travel to the Lewiston-Auburn area for appointments. Most of these specialists are able to refer their patients to local therapists for ongoing treatment.

More information about the Specialty Clinics is available by calling 369-1130.

05/14/2008

RH Auxiliary gives $5000 to 2007-2008 Annual Appeal

In February Sonya Robinson, Rumford Hospital Auxiliary Treasurer, and Barbara Belanger, Auxiliary President, presented a check for $5,000 to CEO John Welsh for the 2007-2008 Annual Appeal. “We are asking our community to stretch their giving this year,” said Belanger, “so it’s the least the Auxiliary can do to step up our contribution. Furnishing and equipping the new spaces under construction is a very significant goal for the Annual Appeal.”

04/07/2008

Dr. Carolyn Garcia, OB/GYN, joins RH Medical Staff

Carolyn Garcia, MD, an obstetrician/gynecologist, has joined the Medical Staff at Rumford Hospital. She will have offices at Swift River Health Care.

A graduate of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR, she earned her medical degree at Tufts University Medical Center, Boston, and served her residency at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke Medical Center in Chicago.

Since 1988, Dr. Garcia has been the physican/owner of Women’s Health Associates of Central Illinois in Bloomington. Before opening her own practice, she had worked in practices in Bloomington and Chicago.

Dr. Garcia looks forward to treating women of all ages. She is particularly interested in infertility and post menopausal symptoms. In addition to performing gynelogical surgery and women’s health, she will provide obstetrical care in corporation with doctors John Kroger, MD, and Rick Marden, MD.

Dr. Garcia has moved to Rumford with her six dogs, all rescued Bichons, and two parrots and has purchased a home with river and mountain views. She hopes to resume her pastimes of knitting, crocheting and gardening after settling into her new job and home. She also plans to take up weaving. “Here there is someone else to run the practice, and I hope to have a little more time to myself.”

Originally from New York City, Dr. Garcia says she hasn’t spent much time in Maine but has “always had an affinity for New England.” Bloomington had become much more urban than it was when she first settled there. “Bloomington grew up too fast,” she says, so she’s happy to be in more rural area. Of course, her car trip from Illinois to Maine was not uneventful with her menagerie, but luckily a friend came along with her.

04/07/2008

Dave Duguay joins Rumford Hospital Board

Dave Duguay of Byron has joined the governing board of Rumford Hospital. He was born and raised in Mexico, attended Ricker College in Houlton and the University College in Mexico. He has been with Hannaford Brothers Company for 35 years, holding store manager positions in several Maine and NH towns and cities. For the last 25 years he has been in Rumford.

“It’s all about opportunity,” Duguay says when asked why he agreed to join the hospital board. “It’s a learning opportunity for me; it’s an opportunity to work with talented folks; to learn and understand our local healthcare system better; and an opportunity to give, by sharing my skills and experiences.” He believes that with his experience with pharmacy, insurances, budgets, quality control, customer service and risk management, he can contribute to the hospital board.

Duguay’s commitment to his community is obvious. He is Chairman of the Byron Planning Board, an Oxford County Commissioner, an Executive Board Member of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, member of the River Valley Growth Council and now a Rumford Hospital Board Member. In the past he has served on the local school board, the mill’s Community Advisory Panel and the Rumford Finance Committee.

A Master Maine Guide, Duguay says that his outdoor hobbies, which include fishing, hunting, hiking, kayaking and camping, have taken somewhat of a backseat to his community service “hobbies” in recent years; but he still enjoys escaping to the woods as often as possible.

Duguay is married to Patricia Duguay, Executive Director of the River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition. They have two grown daughters.

04/07/2008

Rumford Hospital cares

Rumford Hospital became a Critical Access Hospital nearly five years ago. As such, the hospital provides a broad array of acute care services to the people it serves in rural, northern Oxford County, including a new Emergency Department staffed 24 hours a day by board certified emergency physicians. Most people can be cared for right here in the River Valley when they need to be hospitalized.

When they need the services of specialists, patients can go to Central Maine Medical Center. For instance, a patient with severe respiratory problems is better served when he is hospitalized where a pulmonary specialist can see him every day, if necessary. Patients with heart problems are sent directly to the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute.

Rumford Hospital’s Swing Bed program helps many patients hospitalized for acute problems stay as long as they need to fully recover. The program is for patients who no longer need acute care, but who can benefit from continued therapies before they return to their homes. The program is designed to rehabilitate patients so they are as close as possible to the level of living skills they had when they entered the hospital.

With Swing Beds many patients can stay right at Rumford Hospital, close to home, and not have to be transferred to another hospital or to a nursing facility while they complete their recoveries. The program also allows people who have been hospitalized at CMMC, for a hip replacement, for instance, return to Rumford to fully recuperate.

Services will be even better in the future. The consolidated patient unit that is now under construction will have private rooms and will allow the hospital to accommodate patients and their loved ones even better.

04/07/2008

RH Lab accredited by College of American Pathologists

Rumford Hospital’s Laboratory has again been awarded accreditation by the Commission on Laboratory Accreditation of the College of American Pathologists (CAP), based on the results of a recent on-site inspection.

The CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program, begun in the early 1960s, is recognized by the federal government as being equal to or more stringent than the government’s own inspection program. During the accreditation process, inspectors examine laboratory records and quality control procedures for the preceding two years. CAP inspectors examine the entire staff’s qualifications, the laboratory equipment, facilities, safety program and record, as well as the overall management of the laboratory. This ensures the highest standard of care for patients.

“This accreditation is not a new accomplishment,” notes RH Lab Medical Director Michael Eng, MD. “The laboratory has met or exceeded CAP’s standards for more than two decades.” He adds that this is a tribute to the dedication and professionalism of the entire staff.

Eng noted that the entire Laboratory team is essential in maintaining the accreditation. “They regularly document the lab’s adherence to the CAP standards,” Eng notes. “And they ensure that the laboratory maintains ongoing programs of quality assurance and quality improvement.”

Last February the CAP honored the Rumford Hospital Laboratory with selection as a “referee lab” for cell identification in hematology testing. The Rumford Hospital Laboratory had a perfect record of cell identification in hematology for several years, one of the factors that led to the honor of being chosen a referee lab.

“Patients whose testing is performed at Rumford Hospital’s laboratory can certainly feel confident that their results are accurate and consistent,” says Eng.

04/07/2008

RH unveils GEMS

Rumford Hospital Director of Nursing Jane Aube and CEO John Welsh unveiled the photographs of the second class of GEMS recipients recently. They are Sally Arsenault, an operating room nurse, Katherine Hutchinson, also an OR nurse, Mary MacDonald, an Emergency Department CNA, and Nicole Nolette, a nurse in the Birthing Center.

GEMS stands for Growth, Enthusiasm, Motivation and Spirit. GEMS recognizes staff at three levels, or steps of achievement - Sapphire, Ruby and Diamond. In order to keep standards high, staff members are awarded GEMS status for two years, after which they must re-apply for their current level or a higher level.

GEMS rewards staff members for clinical excellence, customer service, education and research, leadership, and community service. The ultimate goal of the program is to demonstrate commitment to excellence in patient care throughout the Central Maine Medical Family.

04/07/2008