We’re Here for You! Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates

Central Maine Healthcare

Changing the Face of Healthcare in Maine

Home CMH News

CMH News

Heather Negri, RN, Named Bridgton Hospital DAISY Award Honoree

Published on

The DAISY Award nurse honorees at Bridgton Hospital personify remarkable patient experience. DAISY Award nurses consistently demonstrate excellence through their clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care, and they are recognized as outstanding role models in our nursing community.

Bridgton Hospital presented its most recent DAISY Award to Heather Negri, RN. In the words of her peers, ” In her own quiet way, Heather exemplifies the meaning of DAISY. She is compassionate, passionate about her work, supportive of all of her teammates, an advocate for her patients and their families. Heather takes time for her patients, to advocate for their needs, to face struggles head-on, and to complete her daily tasks with grace and ease.

Heather consistently cares for patients in a kind manner. She tends to frequently get difficult patients by the luck of the draw. She shows extreme patience and thoughtfulness in her dealings with these patients as well as their families.”

As a DAISY Award Honoree, Heather was presented a bouquet of daisies, a DAISY certificate, a DAISY Award pin, and a hand-carved stone sculpture entitled A Healer’s Touch. Additionally, everyone in attendance celebrated with specially made cinnamon rolls. The significance of the cinnamon rolls is that Mr. Barnes especially enjoyed sharing cinnamon rolls with his nurses, and his family felt this should be a part of the ceremonies across the country.

The DAISY Foundation was established in Glen Ellen, California, in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died of complications of the auto-immune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP) at the age of 33. (DAISY is an acronym for diseases attacking the immune system.) During Mr. Barnes eight week hospitalization, his family was awestruck by the care and compassion his nurses at his hospital provided not only to him but to everyone in his family. So one of the goals they set in creating a Foundation in his memory was to recognize extraordinary nurses everywhere who make an enormous difference in the lives of so many people by the super-human work they do every day.

New Urgent Care Clinic Coming to Lewiston-Auburn

Published on

Central Maine Healthcare opening second Maine Urgent Care location

LEWISTON, Maine — The Lewiston-Auburn community will have a new source of convenient, affordable, walk-in healthcare—everything from flu shots to stitches—with a Maine Urgent Care center coming in February.

The clinic, operated by Central Maine Healthcare, is currently under construction at 685 Sabattus Street in Lewiston and is scheduled to open in late winter. As part of CMH’s vision to increase access to care through a distributed network of ambulatory health centers, Maine Urgent Care will offer patients with minor illnesses and injuries a more convenient and less expensive alternative to a hospital Emergency Department. The clinic will provide diagnostics including X-ray and lab services.

“We want to offer our patients the care they need, where and when they need it and at a good price point,” said Melissa Caccamo, CMH’s system director of ambulatory and retail services. “Whether you need to be seen for life’s everyday bumps and bruises, a flu shot, or even something more emergent, you don’t need to schedule an appointment with your primary care provider or wait in an emergency room.”  The cost of care outside the four walls of a hospital is lower too, she said. Most insurance plans will be recognized and the clinic will offer accessible pricing for self-pay patients.

A number of providers, including nurse practitioners and physician assistants supervised by a medical doctor who directs the clinic, will see patients in the brand-new two-story building. Hiring is under way for about 20 staff members. The accessible first floor, about 4,800 square feet, will include all patient and clinical areas such as exam rooms, lab facilities, an X-ray suite and comfortable waiting rooms. The second floor will house IT functions and some administrative work space.

No appointments will be necessary, but patients will be able to reserve a spot online and check wait times.

The Lewiston location is the second of a planned network of ambulatory care centers for Central Maine Healthcare. The first, Maine Urgent Care in Topsham, is one of only two fully accredited urgent care clinics in Maine. It opened just over a year ago and has seen 8,000 patients from more than 80 communities, Caccamo said.

The Lewiston clinic will be open daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Ample parking will be available.

Contact:
Kate Carlisle
carliska@cmhc.org
207-786-1810

 

About Central Maine Healthcare

Central Maine Healthcare (CMH) is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving 400,000 people living in central, western, and mid-coast Maine. CMH’s hospital facilities include Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Bridgton Hospital, and Rumford Hospital. CMH also supports Central Maine Medical Group, a primary and specialty care practice organization. Other system services include the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute, a regional trauma program, LifeFlight of Maine’s southern Maine base, the Central Maine Comprehensive Cancer Center, and other high quality clinical services.

New Partnership to Increase Access to Orthopedic Care

Published on

CMH - Spectrum
CMH, Spectrum Join to Offer More Convenience, Affordability

Mainers’ access to affordable, convenient and high-quality orthopedic care will increase with a new relationship between Central Maine Healthcare and Central Maine Orthopedics, a member of Spectrum Healthcare Partners, CMH announced Oct. 29.

The agreement, reached last month, allows increased capacity for Spectrum’s Central Maine Orthopedics practice in Auburn, whose providers already offer orthopedic care at Central Maine Medical Center and across the Central Maine Healthcare network, and supports the existing ambulatory surgical center at the Auburn location. The comprehensive orthopedic partnership will better integrate existing capabilities, such as the ambulatory surgical center and CMH’s mobile MRI, and leverage them to increase access and lower the cost of orthopedic care.

“We’re delighted to make best-in-class orthopedics available to more patients in a more convenient and affordable way,” said Ryan McKeown, vice president for strategy and managed care at CMH. “In Maine, we have seen an increased need for orthopedic care, particularly joint replacements and minor surgery. This agreement boosts our ability to provide that care—in more locations than simply our traditional hospital setting.” 

The announcement came soon after Central Maine Medical Center was certified for the quality of its orthopedic care. That certification by the Joint Commission, the nation’s oldest and largest healthcare accrediting body, highlighted total hip replacement, total knee replacement, total shoulder replacement, and hip fracture, after a vigorous inspection by the Joint Commission last month.

In fact, a reviewer from the Joint Commission called the CMMC orthopedic program a “top tier program in the nation.”  More than 1 million total joint replacements, which are considered one of the most successful and cost-effective interventions in medicine, are done in the United States every year. At Central Maine Medical Center, 181 total hip replacements, 316 knee replacements, and 45 shoulder replacements were done in 2017. The hospital treated 162 hip fractures.

“We are excited to see these types of collaborations between health systems and other healthcare partners that focus on delivering high-value healthcare,” said Peter Hayes, president and CEO of the Healthcare Purchaser Alliance of Maine, a nonprofit supporting private employers and public trusts. “In recent conversations with both CMH and Spectrum, both organizations communicated that they are working hard to offer affordable, high-quality services, and that is exactly what purchasers want to see happening in our state. The Healthcare Purchaser Alliance of Maine is looking forward to seeing this collaboration benefit patients and employers alike.

The Central Maine Orthopedics practice and ambulatory surgical center in Auburn has partnered with CMH’s new mobile MRI network to offer patients from Central Maine to the Midcoast area services that are more affordable and accessible than in-hospital care.  The mobile MRI provides outpatient imaging services at CMH’s Topsham Care Center and will soon expand to Auburn at CMO’s Minot Avenue location. It also serves Bridgton and Rumford Hospitals on a rotating schedule.

“Central Maine Orthopedics has had over 30 years of partnership with Central Maine Healthcare.   We are committed to our communities and look forward to expanding our partnership to continue to provide high quality and high value care for the patients in our region,” said Dr. Matthew Bush, Managing Director of Spectrum’s Central Maine Orthopedics’ practice. 

Woman’s Hospital Association Rotating Gallery to Feature Bob Drewal and Jose Leiva

Published on

The Woman’s Hospital Association (WHA) Rotating Art Gallery will feature paintings by Bob Drewal and “light paintings” by Jose Leiva through the month of March. The gallery is located at 60 High Street in Lewiston, the main entrance to Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC).

Drewal, a native of Brooklyn, New York, holds degrees in graphic art and fine art from two City Universities of New York. After graduation he spent four years working in graphic arts in Manhattan, N.Y. Drewal moved to Lewiston in 1974 where he taught art at Lewiston High School for 28 years. He is now “living the good life” in retirement.

Drewal’s acrylics and watercolors depict his vision of land and sea in Maine and Northern New England.

Leiva, a native of Laredo, Texas, has had a life-long passion for photography. He started his art in Brindisi, Italy while serving in the U.S. Air Force and continued his service as a lab technician for the FBI in Washington, D.C. After, Leiva took on corporate photography with IBM and NASA in Houston, Texas. When his travels brought him to the northeast, Leiva became a photojournalist and commercial photographer.

Leiva’s works on display are “light paintings” inspired by his passion for the Dutch Masters and their understanding of light. Though a departure from photographing people and documenting lives, the “light paintings” feature the “way light interacts with objects and the transformation of mundane into beauty,” wrote Leiva in his artist’s statement.

The artists’ work may be purchased through the WHA Gift Shop, located adjacent to the main lobby at Central Maine Medical Center. A percentage of sale proceeds benefits CMMC.