Awards » Professional Recognition
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2012 Winners
Awards Presenter
Edward J. Kane, Esq.
Vice President, Maine
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Edward J. Kane is Vice President, Maine for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Ed is responsible for Harvard Pilgrim’s business in Maine.
Ed is a seasoned health care executive and lawyer. Prior to Harvard Pilgrim, his experience included twelve years as a senior executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, eight years as a member of the Maine Legislature and several years as an attorney in private practice. Additionally, he was a partner in a Boston health care consulting firm and worked for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association nationally. Ed says that: “Between being part of the team at Harvard Pilgrim--the #1 Health Plan in America--and doing so in Maine, I consider myself very fortunate. We all know that our Maine health care system has challenges. I am confident that, together, we in Maine are up to meeting them.”
He received his B.A. from the University of Maryland and his J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. He and his wife, Pauline, live in Saco and are the parents of two daughters.
Lifetime Achievement
Bruce Churchill, MD
It is only fitting that Maine’s 2012 Healthcare Heroes include Dr. Bruce Churchill, and that the award be for lifetime achievement. Churchill, whose death at age 57 this year from ALS left a gaping hole in the Greater Portland community – medical and otherwise – led a life full of achievement.
Professionally, he was one of the most respected obstetricians in southern Maine, delivering some 6,000 babies in a career spanning more than 30 years. He was especially loved by new moms for his ability to listen and put them at ease.
“He could meet patients and they would immediately be able to trust him,” Dr. Kevin Andrews, a colleague at Coastal Women’s Health Care, told the Portland Press Herald after Churchill’s death.
“He would connect with people right off. ... Patients felt he truly cared about them, and he did.”
Personally, he was a devoted husband and father who put family above all else. He and his wife, Cindy, had three daughters, Cristina, Tessa and Leah. Despite their hectic schedules, the family had dinner together almost every night.
Churchill coached his daughters when they played volleyball at Greely High School in Cumberland and served as the team’s assistant coach for 11 seasons, continuing his duties and serving as an inspiration even after he stopped practicing medicine in 2010.
Churchill’s daughters are carrying on two of his passions – medicine and music. Cristina is beginning her final year of medical school (at Michigan, naturally); Tessa is applying to medical school, and Leah “is all about music,” Cindy Churchill said.
Bruce’s noblest attribute, however, may have been the extraordinary courage he showed in the five years after learning that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the progressive neurological disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord and has no known cure.
“When Bruce first learned he had ALS, he was devastated,” Cindy told the Press Herald after her husband’s death. “Then, he became determined to fight it and became an advocate. ... He was willing to do anything to live longer just to stay with us.”
Churchill was raised in Michigan, but he and Cindy chose to establish roots in Maine after he completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Maine Medical Center.
He picked Maine Med for the quality of its program, heading there in 1980 with a BS in microbiology from Michigan State University, where he met Cindy, and an M.D. from the University of Michigan. They came to Maine for a four-year adventure, and never left.
“(Bruce) would be very honored” by the recognition of his contributions, Cindy said. “The family is very happy for his sake.”
Mental Healthcare
Jayme Sullivan
“One of the most compassionate, caring co-workers I have the pleasure of working with,” wrote Jayme Sullivan’s nominator for the Healthcare Heroes award, in the Mental Health Care category.
“She is proficient and ethical, yet goes the extra mile for her clients. She ... has a passion for working with individuals who others often have difficulty working with. Her clients and colleagues deeply respect her, and she is a dedicated, hardworking asset to mental health in Maine- She exudes what social work stands for.”
Sullivan, MHRT-C, (certified mental health rehabilitation technician) is an adult community integration case manager at Counseling Services, Inc., part of the Maine Mental Health Partners network. She works at CSI’s Springvale Regional Center. Jayme has held this position since 2008.
She also is the liaison for the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) consultation team in Springvale.
“I was in seventh grade when I decided that I wanted to be a social worker, thanks to a social worker at school whom I really admired,” Sullivan recalled. “While I was in college, I planned to work with teen-agers, but after graduation I was hired to work in mental health, and discovered that I loved it.”
Sullivan received her bachelor’s degree in social work from Plymouth State University in 1996. Before starting a family, she worked in a small community mental health agency in Beverly, Mass.
Sullivan is intensively trained in DBT and received her training through Behavioral Tech. She also has attended training with Catherine Moonshine, Ph.D. Sullivan hopes to pursue graduate school part-time in the future to enrich her skills and practice and to learn how to help her clients in new ways.
Sullivan’s job requires working with clients who are often diagnosed with persistent mental illness. She works with clients to ensure that they have safe and appropriate housing, get necessary medical and mental health care, and are connected to resources in the community.
Sullivan also runs DBT skills groups for clients with borderline personality disorder, and a modified skills group for clients who need coping skills. She enjoys incorporating mindfulness into her work with clients.
Sullivan and her husband, John, and family live on a lake in a quiet town 30 minutes from where she works. She’s a mom to Casey Mae, age 7, and Jack, 8, and stepmom to 18-year-old Abby and 14-year-old Troy.
In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, watching her children play, and spending time with friends.
Physician
Hector M. Tarraza, MD
Dr. Hector M. Tarraza may lack the name recognition of a Michael Jordan, a Tiger Woods or a Muhammad Ali. But like those three sports icons, he’s a global superstar.
The doctor, whose day job includes serving as chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Maine Medical Center, just happens to do his thing on the less visible stage of medical relief work.
His affiliation with the Global Health Ministry and other medical relief agencies allows him to make about a half-dozen trips each year to remote regions of Latin America, Africa and other lands to provide treatment and training.
His commitment to some of the world’s most needy patients makes him an easy choice as a Healthcare Hero in the physician category.
Tarraza, who lives in Cape Elizabeth with his wife and children, is no stranger to awards. In 2010, he was among nine groups and medical professionals recognized by the Daniel Hanley Center for Health Leadership for humanitarian relief efforts outside the state. Earlier this year, he received the 2012 American Red Cross Real Heroes Award for International Service.
Tarraza’s response to the latter award left no doubt about his sincerity: “This is the heart and soul of what we are all about. To be able to provide care to people who have nothing is a great opportunity.”
Tarraza pays for his own travel and uses all of his vacation time and professional conference time for mission trips. He even picks up extra weekend and holiday shifts so he can spend more time overseas.
“He’s like a mission machine. He’s constantly mobilized to go,” said Eileen Skinner, president and chief executive officer of Mercy Hospital and the colleague who nominated Tarraza for the Hanley award.
Skinner said Tarraza has helped reduce the number of mothers who die during childbirth in impoverished areas such as the mountains of Peru, where a number of children are named Hector after the smiling American doctor.
Tarraza, a gynecologic oncologist who has practiced in Portland since 1988, attended medical school at Harvard University. He makes no excuses for serving the poor of the world rather than people with similar needs in this country.
The many doctors committed to providing care in the poorest areas of the United States are doing great work, he said. He’s simply chosen to address the challenge in a different way.
“I’m just starting at one end … and other people are starting at the other end,” he said. “The need is so big.”
Physician
Thomas M. O’Mara, MD
Tom O’Mara is an emergency medicine physician who has worked at Mercy Hospital since 2009. After years at large medical centers in New York, Baltimore and Louisiana, O’Mara is happy to have found a setting like Mercy. Here, he can spend time with patients and their families, guiding them through medical and personal crises large and small.
The most challenging aspect of O’Mara’s work is not making the split decisions needed to treat the car crash victim, or the person suffering a heart attack. Rather, it is dealing with the social issues surrounding each patient’s case.
Issues range from homelessness, addiction, and abuse, to mental illness, domestic violence, and poverty.
In recent weeks, O’Mara tended to a family that arrived late at night, seeking treatment for a parent who was drinking too much. On another shift, he counseled a mother and her teenage daughter. The mother came in demanding help in determining whether the girl was sexually active.
It is in these areas that O’Mara finds both a connection with people and an avenue to help them to better understand their problems and to find appropriate solutions.
At Mercy, O’Mara said, he and his colleagues are encouraged to take the time to sit with people, recognize their needs and help them find the resources to resolve their problems.
O’Mara recognizes how unusual a setting he’s found in modern health care, and he considers it a privilege to work with a team of caring professionals to provide help to the people of Greater Portland when they need it most. It is that human connection O’Mara finds in his work today that was missing from his first career. Twenty years ago, he was an aerospace engineer working at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia.
The work was interesting, he said, but it wasn’t quite what he wanted. He soon found himself volunteering in a local emergency department and realized that he had found his calling.
He went on to medical school at Columbia University and an emergency medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he was chief resident. Later he worked clinically for Johns Hopkins, where he was voted Teacher of the Year by residents.
O’Mara and his wife, Kristen, have since moved to Scarborough, where they look forward to raising their children, Grace and Riley.
Nurse
Home Health Visiting Nurses
HomeHealth Visiting Nurses (HHVN) is a not-for-profit home health organization representing over 115 years of experience in providing in-home services to infants, children, new mothers, adults and seniors.
As the leading provider of home health care services, HHVN offers nursing care, rehabilitative therapies, counseling, and home health aide support to patients throughout Cumberland, York and Oxford Counties.
In 2012, HHVN received a three-year $1.8M grant from the State of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention to provide nursing services, at no cost, to new mothers, infants and children with special needs. HHVN operates within its core mission: “Helping people to be as healthy and independent as possible at home and in the community. In maintaining this commitment, HHVN provides in-home services to all those in need without regard to income or payment source.
Recognized for its technological advances, the Agency pioneered Telehealth and is positioned to join other MaineHealth members in launching “SeHR”, a shared electronic health record that aims to make “one patient, one record” a reality across the MaineHealth system.
In addition to supporting a vital home health program, HHVN is a strong advocate for community health and wellness. The Agency offers an accredited diabetes education and support program, adult health screenings, foot care and immunizations in public clinics throughout their service area. This past year, HHVN clinicians traveled over 1.5 million miles to provide essential care to more than 22,000 children and adults:
- 8,500 patients maintained independence and health through 111,000 home health visits
- 2,000 newborns and mothers got a healthy start with 6,100 home nursing visits
- 9,000 people were vaccinated as a step toward flu prevention
- 2,500 patients received foot care, health screenings and tests
- 715 older adults lived safety with Lifeline Emergency Response Services
- 150 volunteers contributed over 13,000 hours to our community and patients.
This work is critical in preventing and reducing unnecessary hospitalization, emergent care, and nursing home placement. Most importantly, these home health services provide the structure and support to maintain elders and families in the comfort and safety of home and community.
HHVN employs approximately 260 employees, maintains corporate headquarters at 15 Industrial Park Road in Saco,and has offices in Portland, Bridgton, Kennebunk and Sanford.
HomeHealth Visiting Nurse is a member of MaineHealth, an integrated healthcare system of leading, high-quality providers and other healthcare organizations working together so our communities are the healthiest in America. For more information, call 1-800-660-4867 or visit www.homehealth.org.
Nurse
Susan E.D. Doughty, APRN, WHNP-BC
Susan Doughty, the founder and owner of the New England WomenCenter, has been in practice for more than 30 years. She is a national expert and guest lecturer on menopause and has extensive background with cardiovascular patients. She has published on the topics of menopause, pacemakers, nurse-managed health centers, and advanced practice nursing.
Of all Doughty’s professional accomplishments, she gains her greatest satisfaction through her work with the NEWC, which she founded in 1997 as a health center for women in midlife. The center is home to an interdisciplinary approach to women’s health, utilizing gynecologic care along with nutrition, counseling, massage, physical therapy, yoga, and homeopathy to better assist women as traverse the path into midlife.
Doughty has helped more than 6,000 women achieve midlife goals in the 15 years her practice has been open. She emphasizes nutrition, exercise and self-nurturing as she works with women to help them decide what is best in their transition.
It became clear soon after its opening that many more women wanted to be part of the care at the center. It now is a thriving practice for women of all ages.
New England WomenCenter’s founding principles include being on a bus line for those without transportation, providing care for indigent women, having no obstacles for differently-abled women, and collaborating with an interdisciplinary network of providers that would allow for a comprehensive-management team approach with the patient in charge.
Providers meet frequently with all staff in a circle meeting where issues are discussed and support is given to each other. The atmosphere at New England WomenCenter is one of positive regard and optimism, where wellness is validated and problems are managed collaboratively.
At NEWC, staff maintain a high respect for each woman’s autonomy and intelligence and recognize that she is the expert on her own body. Staff allows adequate time for each woman to address her concerns.
Doughty is a graduate of Geisinger Medical Center in Pennsylvania and the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. Her graduate nursing degrees are from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Boston College.
She is nationally certified as a women’s health nurse practitioner and serves on the scientific advisory board of the American Menopause Foundation. An avid reader who enjoys sailing, kayaking and singing, Doughty is married and the mother of two adult children.
Volunteer
James P. Wood
Near-tragedy took James P. Wood down the path that led to his being named a 2012 Healthcare Hero for his 16 years of volunteer service at the VA hospital at Togus.
Two decades ago, Wood was “working 100 hours a week and loving it” as the owner of a pub-style restaurant in Amherst, Mass. Volunteering? Not even on the radar of the U.S. Army veteran with a specialty in Pershing missiles.
Then everything changed. Wood, who was too busy to properly treat a flu-like illness, suffered the first of three heart attacks triggered by the infection.
Just 39 years old, he was still in intensive care at the VA hospital in Northampton, Mass., when the bank called in his loan.
Fortunately, Wood found a buyer, but he was “psychologically devastated” when doctors told him that his fragile heart would prevent him from ever holding a full-time job.
He qualified for a “non-service connected pension” that allowed him to take care of his physical needs But his mental state only worsened – until a fellow veteran, a PTSD patient, set him straight.
The man told Wood that he had many of the symptoms associated with PTSD and that he needed something to do – a purpose – to get past his malaise. Wood took the advice. He began volunteering at the hospital. That was 1993 and – more than 12,000 volunteer hours later – he’s still going strong.
In nominating Jim for a “Hero” award, hospital administrators described him as “a consistent and dedicated volunteer ... serving in many diverse capacities.”
“Jim,” they added, “always willingly assists with any task or project, regardless of the scope or complexity. If only we could clone him!”
Wood, the hospital’s 2010 Volunteer of the Year, spends a day a week manning the information desk, answering questions and serving the needs of patients and visitors. He fills in where needed on other days, and he’s a regular tour guide (who especially likes to lead a favorite event of many Togus patients: the annual visit by Miss Maine contestants.) Wood, of Augusta, is 58 and single. In addition to volunteering, he enjoys woodworking, baking, camping, hiking and reading. He built his own kayak and flies radio-controlled model airplanes.
He’s looking forward to the luncheon at which he and other heroes will be honored. He plans to bring his parents, who are both in the 80s and live in Readfield.
As for the recognition? “It’s not what we do it for,” he said, noting that the hospital has 600 deserving volunteers, “but it’s nice when it happens.”
Advancements in Healthcare Research & Developement
Carol Bult, PhD
Carol J. Bult, Ph.D. is a geneticist and bioinformatician who uses both computational and experimental approaches to understand the genomics of complex biological processes.
Highlights of her research over the past 20 years include the first use of “high-throughput” DNA sequencing for the discovery of novel human genes; sequencing the first three complete genomes of cellular organisms; the initial sequencing and analysis of the mouse genome, and the first comprehensive assessment of transcriptional diversity and dynamics in the mouse genome.
Bult is a lead scientist in the Mouse Genome Informatics database consortium at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor. The MGI data is the most comprehensive database of integrated functional genetic and genomic data for the laboratory mouse available in the public domain. Her current research program focuses on analyzing genome data to predict genes and gene networks that are involved in lung disease and birth defects.
Bult earned a B.S. in biology from George Mason University, her Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Louisiana State University and the Smithsonian Institution. She is a founding faculty member of one of the world’s first genomics research centers, The Institute for Genomic Research (now, The J. Craig Venter Institute), in Rockville, Md. She was recruited by The Jackson Laboratory in 1997.
Bult has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and serves on numerous scientific advisory boards. Her work has been highlighted in the journal Science, as well as in Wired and Discover magazines.
Bult, who lives in Seal Harbor, is active as a volunteer on the Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue Team and plays the trumpet in the Bar Harbor Town Band. And she’s an avid road biker who enjoys riding the rolling carriage trails of Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island.
Those hilly trails prove excellent training for the Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill climb, which has a 22-degree incline over its 7.6 miles. Bult does the event every August.
“I’ll never be the fastest person to race up Mount Washington,” Bult told Joyce Peterson in an interview for Jackson Lab’s magazine “The Search.”
“So my goal is to be the oldest person.”
In that interview, asked about her work, Bult expressed similar dedication. “I want to be able to do what I’m doing for as long as I possibly can, because it’s very fulfilling.”
Healthcare Educator
Lorraine Laliberte, PA-C
Lorraine (Laurie) Laliberte is a physician assistant and internal medicine health educator who has been working for Intermed for 14 years. She works primarily with patients age 50 and older, helping them to manage chronic diseases such as diabetes, depression, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. She feels fortunate to be a part of a practice where patients come first.
Laliberte tracks her career choice back to experiences in her 20s, when she was a respiratory therapist. A family member sustained a brain injury, and Laliberte was struck by the need to help the family member and people like him recover from such injuries.
Health professionals, she realized, played in integral part in patients’ ability to care for themselves after discharge from the hospital, and to once again function in society. She was inspired to become part of the solution.
Today, she takes great pride in helping people learn to take care of themselves. She spends time with patients in an unhurried environment, taking time to listen and to understand what patients are saying – as well as what they are not saying.
With appointment blocks of 30, 45 or 60 minutes, Laliberte has the time to draw information from people, with an eye on steps that might help resolve issues. She helps patients directly through guidance on diet and exercise plans, or by connecting them with services for further assistance, such as nutritionists or counselors.
Laliberte enjoys getting to know her patients, teaching and treating each one individually, and building relationships to last a lifetime.
She strives to help patients take control of their health and develop the self-motivation needed to sustain a healthier lifestyle. She finds patients who sense a health care provider’s compassion are more motivated to succeed.
Laliberte completed her physician assistant training at the University of Osteopathic Medicine in Des Moines, Iowa. Before that, she worked as a respiratory therapist at the University of Utah, at Southern Maine Medical Center and at Maine Medical Center.
She lives in southern Maine with her family and their dog. She loves exercising outdoors, which includes biking, skiing, and hiking.
Excellence in Emergency Medicine
Calvin Fuhrmann, MD, FCCP
You won’t catch Dr. Calvin Fuhrmann’s act on “ER” or other television dramas depicting the heroic efforts of emergency room doctors resolving one medical crisis after another. But Fuhrmann is a legitimate hero in the field of emergency medicine for tackling its most important crisis – out-of-control costs that are dragging down the entire healthcare system.
Fuhrmann owns and operates Kennebunk Medical Center, a two-physician office with a walk-in clinic that accepts all comers, including tourists and regular patients, allowing them to avoid expensive and often lengthy trips to a hospital emergency room. The clinic, which handles minor emergencies, is open during normal business hours when local pharmacies can still fill prescriptions, if needed.
The clinic’s motto? “We’re here when you need us.”
Fuhrmann’s long-term commitment to emergency medical care as an independent physician has earned him the distinction of being named a 2012 Healthcare Hero.
As such, he will be among those honored at a Healthcare Expo on Oct. 6. In addition, he will be a featured speaker at the event, addressing aspects of the Affordable Care Act.
The new healthcare law, he said, includes increased reimbursements for practices designated as a “patient-centered medical home.” One of the requirements for participation is having an open-door policy.
“The emergency medical system is badly flawed and we need to address that,” said Fuhrmann, an internist with certification in pulmonary medicine.
He’s pleased that larger internal medicine groups are beginning to adopt policies that guarantee same-day or next-day service for patients needing prompt attention. The trend will help take some of the burden off hospital emergency rooms. But more importantly, he said, “It’s much better for patients to be seen by someone who has all your records.”
And having a reputation of being available also makes sense financially. “Our volume in the summertime goes up 25 to 30 percent,” said Fuhrmann, who plans to retire this fall.
Fuhrmann is a graduate of the University of Maryland Medical School and the Johns Hopkins University Medical Center. He and his wife Denise, a nurse practitioner, moved to Kennebunkport in 1997 after vacationing in the state for years. He acquired Kennebunk Medical Center two years later.
Before settling in Maine, he spent 21 years as chief of pulmonary services at Harbor Hospital Center in Maryland and acted as a physician adviser to the Department of Defense for a decade.
Fuhrmann’s s nomination for a “hero” award succinctly revealed his genuine commitment to improving healthcare: “His contribution as an independent community physician is very admirable in this day of practice and hospital consolidations,” it said. “He remains the good doctor for all.”
Excellence in Military Healthcare
Jeffrey Dempski, DO
Medicine is a career, but it also can be a calling.
No one knows that better than Dr. Jeffrey W. Dempski, an ophthalmologist who made a career of his chosen field by serving in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps for 20 years, attaining the rank of captain. He realized it was a calling when he retired to go into private practice.
That wise voice that speaks to us all at one time or another soon began telling him that he “missed treating veterans and preferred the camaraderie and sense of family that the military provided.”
Dempski became chief of ophthalmology at the Togus VA hospital in 2004 and has worked to improve services to Maine veterans ever since, a commitment that led to his being named a 2012 Healthcare Hero for serving the military.
During his tenure, Dempski has expanded the eye clinic – increasing patient capacity – upgraded examination and surgical equipment, and led the teaching and training program for students and residents.
As a teacher, Dempski supervises seven or eight ophthalmology residents each year – one at a time – training them in all aspects of eye care with an emphasis on surgery. His skill and the quality of care that veterans get at Togus led to his receiving the 2012 Teacher of the Year Award from the Harvard Medical School Ophthalmology Residency Program at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
The “hero” award that he will receive on Oct. 6 is especially pleasing, he said, “because it shows people who think the VA system is not as good as traditional care that that’s not true.”
“It’s almost like a vindication,” Dempski said of the recognition.
“Wow, here’s the VA being recognized for providing good medical care,” he said, adding that the state’s veterans are already well aware of that fact.
“Unfortunately,” Dempski said, “we have become a victim of our own success” because wait times get longer as more and more veterans look to Togus for quality care.
“We have state-of-the-art care, state-of-the-art surgery,” he said, underscoring his confidence in the VA health care system.
Dempski, a New Englander with a strong connection to Maine – he received both his undergraduate and medical degrees in Biddeford from what is now the University of New England in Biddeford – made a conscious decision to settle in the region when it came time to make a permanent home for his family.
He said he chose his final assignment – Naval Submarine Base Groton in Connecticut – “because we always knew we’d come back to New England.”
Community Outreach/Service
Stephen M. Woods
Steve Woods serves as president and CEO of Falmouth-based TideSmart Global, an industry-leading group of six companies primarily focused on experiential marketing.
TideSmart Global’s health engagement agency, Promerica Health, has been recognized by Event Marketer Magazine as one of the top-100 experiential agencies in the country, the only such agency focused exclusively on health and wellness programming.
Woods’ varied career encompasses time spent as an agency executive, sports marketing professional, key brand leader and successful entrepreneur. The varied specialties of the TideSmart Global group of companies (green marketing, health engagement, digital marketing) reflect Woods’ varied interests and experiences.
In particular, Promerica Health provides a platform for patient engagement, employee wellness, and preventive health efforts born from observations made and lessons learned during Woods’ professional journey.
Beyond his professional pursuits, Woods has demonstrated a passion for experiential marketing and sport/entertainment business. He spent nearly a decade serving as an adjunct professor of sports business with academic affiliations at four major universities.
Woods has also appeared frequently as a commentator on the subject for various media outlets, including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, ESPN, CNN, HBO and MSNBC.
Woods is also a co-owner of the Maine Red Claws, the NBA D-League team affiliated with the Boston Celtics. In addition, he is also a partner in The Forefront, Thompson Point project, a projected $100 million multi-use commercial development in Portland.
He hosts “TideSmart Talk with Stevoe,” a national weekly radio talk show. Featured on WLOB (1310 AM) in Portland, the show can be heard 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, and is available by podcast.
With his wife, Katie, and their three children, Woods lives in Yarmouth, where he has served his town’s government in a number of leadership roles and he currently serves as the chairman of the Yarmouth Town Council. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Big Brothers Big Sister organization in Southern Maine.
Woods is a candidate for the U.S. Senate (www.stevewoods2012.com) and will be on the ballot Nov. 6.
Dentist
Robert W. Beebe, DDS
A native of Minnesota, Dr. Robert W. Beebe graduated from the University of Minnesota Dental School in 1975. Following his graduation, he moved to Portland, Maine to do a general dentistry residency at Maine Medical Center.
After completing the year-long residency, Beebe moved to Gray, where he established a general dentistry practice at the Gray Plaza on Route 100.
The ever-growing practice, Maine Cosmetic Dentistry, has been at the same location for more than 35 years. For the last 20 years, the focus of the practice has been on cosmetic and adult restorative dentistry. In the last 15 years Beebe has been studying extensively at Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies, LVI, where he is a clinical instructor. The advanced training has included full mouth restorations; TMD treatment; treatment of head, neck and facial pain which includes headaches; and most recently, dental sleep medicine.
This continuous learning journey has kept his enthusiasm for his profession alive and growing, which is exciting. The knowledge that Beebe has gained throughout his career has brought him full-circle to apply cosmetic dentistry techniques to general dentistry procedures, such as tooth- colored fillings to replace old silver fillings or even the simple reshaping of teeth. Throughout the year, Beebe’s team attends courses and seminars so that they are completely informed on all new technologies and techniques.
“Recently we have been focusing on the airway and facial development of our younger patients, to help them avoid issues as they grow. Many of these issues cn compromise their ability to learn, and their long-term health,” Beebe commented.
Beebe is well-known for his sense of humor and for a relaxed chairside manner that puts people very much at ease. It is his method to thoroughly explain all available options for a procedure or procedures, and then be at the patient’s side every step of the way.
“It’s very satisfying to hear someone say that they enjoyed their visit to the dentist, and it’s extremely rewarding to see people who are happy with their great smiles and to know that we were able to help them achieve that look,” Beebe says.
Despite the long hours he devotes to his practice, Beebe – who inherited his father’s love of the outdoors – finds time to enjoy all that Maine has to offer. He can often be found duck and goose hunting, fishing, snowshoeing and spending time on the ocean.
Beebe and his wife, Annette, live in Gray. They have three grown children.
Caregiver
Mckenzie Trefethen
Two years ago, when she was a junior at Westbrook High School, McKenzie Trefethen was moved by the situation of a friend dealing with muscular dystrophy.
Noting the social awkwardness that resulted because peers were unaware of his condition, or did not comprehend its effects, she founded an MD Awareness Day at the school, which included fund-raising for Children’s Hospital in Boston, where the boy was receiving treatment.
“It was a great experience, just trying to open a lot of people’s eyes – a lot like teaching,” Trefethen says now. “That (effort) was pretty successful, and Westbrook still recognizes the day.”
Walter LeBlanc, who teaches health education at Westbrook High, well remembers his student’s dedication. “The project was for a leadership class I teach, in which students were asked to set up a self-directed project. (McKenzie) created one that was personally relevant to her, and ran with it 100 percent.
“She’s the type of person who’s always wanted to help others – very empathetic and compassionate,” added LeBlanc, who was also Trefethen’s adviser. Empathy and compassion are among the qualities that contributed to Trefethen’s selection as a Healthcare Hero for 2012.
Just 19, the Westbrook resident works on R5 – urology and kidney dialysis – at Maine Medical Center in Portland. She earned her CNA certification there and plans to attend Central Maine Community College in Lewiston in the spring, to begin a projected three years of work on her RN degree. That goal is one step in her longer-term ambition to become a life flight nurse (and also to get her commercial pilot’s license).
Trefethen hopes to arrange her class schedule around a demanding MMC week during which she works three 12-hour days, with variations. “Sometimes when I’m really lucky and starting at 7 a.m., I might be asked to stay until 11:30 p.m.,” she said.
How does she maintain her energy level over the long hours?
“It’s not hard, because I love it so much,” she said. “When you’re passionate about what you do, everything is so much easier. Everyone is really supportive, and you’re so busy that 6 hours can seem like 6 minutes.”
She recently joined a gym, does walk/runs, and also notes that “plenty of Greek yogurt, and staying hydrated” contribute to her fitness level.
Youth – she won’t turn 20 until next May – is on Trefethen’s side, and her upbeat presence and cheery demeanor are definite plusses on a floor generally serving older patients.
“I love every second” of her work at Maine Med, Trefethen said. “The people I work with couldn’t be more friendly; we’re like a big family.”
Pharmacist
Tom Madden, RPh
The genesis of Apothecary By Design occurred in the mid 1990s. As the Portland specialty pharmacy’s founding partner Tom Madden explains, he was involved in the treatment of a kidney transplant patient to be discharged from Maine Medical Center.
Ralph, an older man who lived alone in Portland’s East End, had “some aptitude and learning issues,” and his social worker was concerned about his ability to handle his medications properly, even with visiting nurses’ help, when he made the transition home.
I said, “Why don’t I go up and meet with him?’” Madden remembers. After which, Carl lived independently “for about seven good years.”
“At the time I was a ‘traditional pharmacist,’ whatever that is, but that’s where everything started, and eventually blossomed into this model ‘Medication Therapy Management.’ When we opened Apothecary By Design in 2008, we said, ‘this – MTM – is how it should be done.’
In Medication Therapy Management, the patient is supported by a clinical pharmacist, nurse, personal case manager, and reimbursement and advocacy outreach.
The goal, Madden explains, is “compassionate, directed care and management of chronically ill patients living with complex conditions such as organ transplant, HIV, and hepatitis C.”
“It takes a team to care for a sick patient, it really does,” said Madden, suggesting that his Healthcare Heroes award in the Pharmacist category belongs to everyone at ABD.
Incorporated in 2006, Apothecary By Design opened four years ago with nine team members. Today, Madden and his four partners lead a staff of about three dozen people, including nurses, patient care coordinators, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
There’s even a cafe, called PeRx-U-Up, which in addition to adding warmth to the atmosphere, purposely alludes to the traditional drugstore-with-soda-fountain model, just as “apothecary” invokes the original title of the profession.
ABD’s growth comtinues this fall. The pharmacy has leased an additional 7,800 square feet at 141 Preble St., about 500 feet from the flagship location – which will remain – at 84 Marginal Way. The new location, planned to open in November, will house specialty pharmacy services, sterile compounding, and administrative offices.
“For me, this is a passion, not a labor,” said Madden, who before founding ABD was a partner at Portland Professional Pharmacy, and held management positions at NMHC, Stadtlander’s, and HMI Pharmaceutical Services.
An alumnus of Cheverus High School (1975), Madden graduated from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. He and his wife, Diane, live in Saco. Their son, Chris, is a freshman at Boston College; daughter, Victoria, a junior at Thornton Academy.
2011 Winners
One doesn’t have to travel far to receive world-class healthcare. It’s being provided right here in Maine. Here are the 2011 award categories and people who were recognized:
Lifetime Achievement
Nancy Smith is chairman of the Health Science Division and Nursing Department and is a professor of nursing at Southern Maine Community College. She received her bachelor’s of science in nursing in 1971 from the University of Rhode Island, and her master’s of science in nursing from the University of Southern Maine in 1992. She’s been a volunteer RN at the Portland Community Free Clinic since 2001.
In 2009, Nancy received the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Award for Teaching and Leadership Excellence. She is a coauthor of “Introductory Medical-Surgical Nursing,” and is beginning revisions for the book’s 11th edition. She is married to Jim Smith. They have two daughters.
Mental Healthcare
Catherine Lorello-Snow is the program director of Spurwink’s Portland Help Center. She is a 1977 graduate of the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing.
Catherine’s interest in working with people with mental illness has spanned more than 20 years, during which time the environment for adults living with mental illness has changed dramatically from psychiatric institutionalization, to de-institutionalization, to patients living in their own communities, to patients taking a lead role in their own recovery process.
Catherine brings her whole heart and soul to her nursing career. Over time, she has developed an intuition for finding what people need, and helping them to reach their goals.
She believes in constantly learning, traveling, and discovering new things in order to bring that synergy to her work. She provides exemplary, compassionate care to her patients, building relationships and connections to solve problems, always with her patients’ health and well-being foremost.
Physician
Dr. Sean McCloy is the medical director of the Integrative Health Center of Maine. He is dual board-certified in family medicine and holistic medicine. He chose to complete his family medicine residency at Maine Medical Center because of its strong training in complementary and alternative medicine, and because he loves Portland.
Dr. McCloy has a medical degree from New York Medical College. He also has a Master of Public Health and a Master of Arts in Medical Sciences from Boston University School of Medicine.
At the Integrative Health Center of Maine, Dr. McCloy practices holistic family medicine. He also specializes in functional medicine, which is a science-based approach to treating the root causes of chronic disease rather than simply covering up symptoms with drugs.
By looking at the interactions between a patient’s nutrition, genetics, environment and mind-body connections, Dr. McCloy treats the whole person instead of viewing them as a collection of organs. He views health not simply as the absence of disease, but as living with an abundance of vitality and well-being.
He is very excited to work collaboratively and holistically with a multi-talented group of like-minded practitioners at the Integrative Health Center of Maine.
Nurse
Linda McLaughlin is a clinical nurse at Maine Medical Center, where she has worked in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit since 1986.
Linda has 29 years of experience in neonatal intensive care nursing. She received her national certification in neonatal intensive care nursing in 1995. In 2009, she received the Laura Vogel Humanatarian Award from Maine Medical Center’s Department of Nursing.
About 10 years ago, while taking care of an infant in NICU, she became involved with helping African immigrants to the Portland area. She’s been a volunteer at The Root Cellar since 2006, and with the help of Chirstine Ming, started a monthly International Ladies Tea.
In addition, Linda’s been a guest speaker at Scarborough High School’s career class, speaking about NICU nursing. She has made two trips to Kenya to work with an AIDS orphanage and, most recently, made a trip to Uganda with Health Volunteers Overseas to work in a NICU at Mulago Hospital.
Nurse
Jane Cleaves has been a registered nurse for 44 years and worked at Maine Medical Center for 32 of those years.
Jane has contributed to many initiatives at Maine Medical Center over the years. Some of her proudest accomplishments:
Early in her career she assisted in the development of the oncology unit at MMC as well as the medical telemetry unit and was key in creating the hospital’s angioplasty program.
She also participated in the development of a safe patient and family-centered care task force; reinvented the RN clinical ladder for the bedside nurse, which included compensation and recognition for MMC’s nurses; and conducted a research project on improving communication between health-care providers and their patients. Through this project, MMC now has a funded patient journal program.
Volunteer
Dr. Samuel Broaddus is the senior physician at Maine Medical Partners Urology and is being honored for his work as a volunteer. He’s been a staff urologist at Maine Medical Center since 1984.
A graduate of Bowdoin College and the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Dr. Broaddus served as a surgical resident at the Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle and completed his urology residency at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, where he was awarded the College of Medicine "Resident of the Year" Teaching Award.
He brought the technique of minimally invasive percutaneous kidney stone surgery to Maine in 1984 and played a pivotal role in the acquisition of the first kidney stone lithotripter in the state.
Dr. Broaddus has been a role model for volunteering his surgical expertise to hospitals and surgeons in seven underserved countries during a career spanning 29 years. His volunteer work began after his residency in 1982, when he spent two years teaching TUR-prostate surgery to general surgeons in mission hospitals in St. Lucia, Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He collected and shipped donated fiberoptic resectoscopes to each hospital at his own expense so that the technique could be continued after his departure.
Dr. Broaddus has served as a visiting professor at hospitals in Thailand (1989) and Vietnam (2001), the latter under the auspices of Friendship Bridge. He was recommended as a consultant to the International Relations Committee of the American Urological Association in 1991 because of his motivation to make a difference in urological care in the developing world.
His main passion however, has been in Haiti, where he has volunteered for the past 17 years. Starting in 1994 and for four subsequent years, he spent two weeks annually at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in central Haiti performing urological surgery where there was no urologist.
Since 2003, he has been a board member of Konbit Sante, a volunteer Maine-based medical nonprofit whose goal has been to improve basic health care in northern Haiti in partnership with Haitian colleagues. He has traveled to Cap Haitien, Haiti, on nine surgical mission trips between 2003 and 2010.
In his current role as surgical team leader of Konbit Sante (www.konbitsante.org), he has helped to improve basic surgical infrastructure and surgical residency training at a 250-bed teaching hospital operated by the Haitian Ministry of Health.
Advancements in Healthcare Research and Developments
Dr. Michael Field is a physician at Maine Medical Center and is being recognized for advancements in healthcare. He specializes in cardiac electrophysiology, which is the study of disorders of the electrical system, also called arrhythmias.
Arrhythmias arise from heartbeats that are too fast, too slow, or just irregular and may result in symptoms of palpitations, fainting and, in rare cases, stroke or sudden cardiac arrest.
He has been involved in developing a program in Maine to help patients with atrial fibrillation. This includes a procedure called catheter ablation in which areas of abnormal electrical activity within the heart are ablated or cauterized.
He lives in Portland with his wife and 1-year-old son. In January, he will be moving to the University of Wisconsin to become director of electrophysiology.
Healthcare Educator
Marilyn Gugliucci is the director for geriatrics education and research at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. She also is the director of U-ExCEL (UNE’s Exercise and Conditioning for Easier Living) fitness/wellness program for older adults.
Her Learning by Living© Research Project places medical students into nursing homes to live the life of an elder resident for two weeks. She also conducts research on older adult function and standing balance control.
Marilyn is a fellow of the American Geriatrics Society, the Gerontological Society of America, and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education. Her expertise and passion in the field of aging has provided numerous opportunities to present regionally and nationally.
Excellence in Emergency Medicine
Sarah Joy Harding, 29, is a registered nurse at Maine General Medical Center. Sarah lives in Winslow with her partner of five years, Chris, and his two daughters; Alyssa, 13, and Ailie, 6. Harding graduated as a registered nurse from Kennebec Valley Community College in May 2009.
Prior to graduation, she was a certified nursing assistant for nine years. For her entire nursing career, she has worked in the emergency department at Maine General Medical Center’s Thayer campus in Waterville.
Nursing is Sarah’s true passion, her purpose in life. In particular, she enjoys the numerous daily opportunities provided by the profession to make a difference in another person’s life at a time when they may need it most. She has especially found her niche in emergency medicine and plans to spend her entire career in this field.
Outside of work, her interests include spending time enjoying her family and friends, yoga, exercise and just being outside enjoying nature. Sarah’s goal in life is to make moment-by-moment decisions that add up to a healthy lifestyle, and ultimately to live a life of kindness and compassion.
Excellence in Military Healthcare
Dr. Benjamin Grasso is a doctor at the VA Maine Healthcare System. As a VA psychiatrist, he takes care of several hundred veterans, most of them combat veterans. The majority of his patients have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; many have traumatic brain injuries as well.
Before joining the VA, he took care of civilian patients and did research on patient safety and medication errors in psychiatry. His principal collaborators in patient safety research were Dr. David Bates, chief of medicine at Brigham and Women’s and a professor at Harvard Medical School; and Dr. Miles Shore, Bullard Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has written two commissioned reports for the Institutes of Medicine, and has published several other papers as well.
Dr. Grasso is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Medicine internship and adult psychiatry residency program, and of the National Institutes of Health Neuropsychiatry Fellowship under the late Dr. Richard Wyatt.
He has two daughters, Sabie and Izzi. His free time is spent volunteering for Jarheadpinhead, a nonprofit spearheading a new way to help combat vets, and walking "Killer," his 7-pound Pomeranian.
Community Outreach/Service
Chris Sementelli is the manager of Sports Medicine at Maine General Medical Center. Chris received his undergraduate degree in sports medicine from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., and his graduate degree from Salisbury University in Salisbury, Md.
He began his career in sports medicine in professional baseball, serving on the medical staff of the Philadelphia Phillies as a staff minor league athletic trainer from 1986 to 1990.
He then came to Maine, where he accepted a position as a staff athletic trainer at Maine Sports Medicine at Kennebec Valley Medical Center in Augusta.
Since then, Chris has served as the program coordinator and eventually became the manager of the merged entity of Mid Maine Medical Center and Kennebec Valley Medical Center – MaineGeneral Medical Center – MaineGeneral Sports Medicine.
He oversees a program that includes 12 community outreach contracts, eight full-time athletic trainers, and numerous community affiliations in the Augusta/Waterville service area of MaineGeneral Medical Center.
He lives in Fairfield with his wife, Lee, and children, Jenna and Anthony.
