The Houlton Rotary Club met on August 24, 2015 for their weekly luncheon and to hear guest speaker Janene Moran from the Houlton Regional Hospital.
Guest Rotarians were Walter Thompson, a summer visitor to Houlton Rotary Club from Tennessee and John Kavin, a member of the Caribou Rotary Club who also brought his mother Natalie Kavin to enjoy the luncheon meeting. Other guests were Anne Barnes with Forrest, Ellen Schneider, guest of Fred Grant and Kelly Ashley, guest of Elizabeth Dulin and Dominic Nicoll, of the Salvation Army. Kelly and Dominic are in the process of becoming members of the Houlton Rotary Club. Grant announced that Ellen Schneider, superintendent of RSU 29 will also be a member of the Houlton Rotary Club.
Houlton Rotarian Rob Moran introduced his guest speaker, his wife, Janene. Rob wanted to have a speaker from the Houlton Regional Hospital address the topic of the new doctors who have been recruited over the past year. Tom Moakler was first invited to speak and he suggested to Rob that Janene could address the topic first hand as it was Janene’s responsibility with her recent position at HRH. Janene has recruited 11 doctors in the last 12 months.
Janene mentioned first that this was one way to have her husband buy her lunch in accepting his invitation to speak to Rotary. She has been with HRH for 10 years and explained that she was asked by Moakler to take on the task of recruiting new doctors for the hospital beginning last summer.
HRH was reaching a critical staffing point with early retirements and unexpected resignations by doctors. At this point Moran explained that what was needed in the primary care area is an experienced general surgeon.
She introduced Houlton Rotary Club to the new doctors she has drawn to HRH. Houlton Urology has gained two urologists who share the hours of one physician: Robert Bohus, MD and John Russell, MD. Both doctors who met in medical school were looking towards part time retirement and were attracted to the Houlton area. Doctor Mosenfelder has highly endorsed his new Ob-Gyn partner, Kimberly Mays de Perez, MD who has family in the area and with her husband is planning to build a new home in the community. Houlton Family Practice has been enhanced by the addition of Alessandro Cavalcante, PA-C whose wife hails from Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada. The couple chose to be closer to relatives with the addition of twins to their family.
A husband and wife team Grace and Dale have joined HRH: Grace Freier, MD is with Houlton Pediatrics and Dale Freier, MD is in the emergency room. Letters from patients have been received commending Dr. Freier’s work in the ER. Grace and Dale were attracted by the Greater Houlton Christian Academy for their children and a farm in Littleton for their cows. Moran wondered if touring a cow barn was part of her job description and asked her boss who reassured her with the words “whatever it takes”.
From Springfield, Massachusetts to Houlton Pediatrics Joe Fahey, MD came highly recommended along with Adwoa Manu-Boateng, MD who came from New Brunswick, Canada. Adwoa immigrated to Miramichi from Kenya and then Centerville and was very familiar with Houlton, Maine.
Houlton Internal Medicine has gained Dr. “J”. James Jiansakul, MD has been well received by the HRH community. And Solomom Olabiyi, MD is new to Houlton Internal Medicine, along with Amira El Magbari, MD who was looking for a safe place to bring her family. She is from Libya where there is constant gunfire as background noise. Amira adds a female doctor to the staff at Houlton Internal Medicine.
Moran spoke about her recruitment techniques that are very comprehensive. She realizes that it is sometimes difficult to provide the new doctor’s spouse with a career opportunity. She promotes the many wonderful aspects of living in the Houlton area with its many churches, excellent schools, and its geographic location to travel. She weeds out candidates who ask about the closest Bloomingdales or are only in it for the money or have issues with the cold weather.
She thanked the patients of HRH for their understanding over the past year in placing new doctors to provide care and meet their needs. The hospital surprises many new doctors with all that is available for providing treatment within the facility. The new equipment that the Foundation has worked hard to bring in has made HRH a first class medical experience.
The Houlton Rotary Club showed their enthusiasm for Moran’s work with a round of applause. The new doctors will be welcomed to the medical community with a dinner at The Horn and one Rotarian suggested a community meet and greet to recognize the doctors out in the public eye. Moran liked this suggestion.
Since the club has been educated on Janene’s abilities in her job a public meet and greet will probably happen.
