PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The start of a new year is a great time not only for setting goals for the year ahead, but for reflecting on the year that ended. Northern Light AR Gould Hospital is taking some time to do just that.
“All in all, despite the many issues plaguing healthcare systems across the state and nation, we can be proud of the year we had,” says Dr. Jay Reynolds, hospital president. “The team here at AR Gould pulled together and worked hard, oftentimes needing to do ‘more with less’ due to staffing and financial challenges. I can’t thank our staff and providers enough for the tremendous work they do every day to help us meet our mission of improving the health of the people and communities we serve.”
Here are a few highlights from the year.
Changing leadership and personnel
The hospital had a change of leadership halfway through the year. Thanks to the strengths of the existing team, roles were filled with people who already had a strong background with the hospital and in the community, making the transition go smoothly.
Reynolds, previously the senior physician executive, became interim president in July and was officially named president in August. Reynolds, a lifelong resident of Fort Fairfield, has been a family medicine provider and then physician leader at the organization for his entire professional career.
August also saw Sam Dobson, an accountant who has worked in healthcare finances for almost 30 years – the last 10 at AR Gould – named as the new vice president of finance. His extensive knowledge of the finance, revenue cycle, and financial processes for the hospital and within the Northern Light System allowed him to step right into the role in the middle of the budgeting season.
Recently named as the new senior physician executive for AR Gould is Dr. Justin White, who has been a part of the hospital’s medical staff since 2019. He has served as the lead hospitalist and the medical director of the medical specialists during his tenure here.
2023 was also a year of retirements, according to Reynolds. “As our workforce ages, we are seeing more and more folks hit retirement age. Last year, 13 of our talented team members retired, totaling more than 400 years of combined service. While they will be sorely missed, we wish only the best for them.”
Welcoming new providers
“We are committed to offering a breadth of services beyond what you normally find in rural regions like ours,” says Reynolds. “To support this, we put a lot of effort into attracting and retaining the providers needed to offer these services and the regular care needed for patients and the community daily. Thanks to a great recruitment year in 2023, a total of 23 providers joined, or in some cases returned, to the hospital. Thirteen of these provider positions are new ones to help with growth, not just replacing vacant positions.”
In Primary Care and Pediatrics, we welcomed five new providers. Katherine Cone, DO, Abigail Bruns, PA-C, and Joshua Wood, PA-C, joined our primary care practice in Presque Isle; Behnoosh Dashti, MD joined our Women’s Health Center; and Corinne Cannon, FNP-BC joined our pediatrics practice.
Seven new specialty providers joined the hospital, while three familiar faces returned. New to the team were Meredith Marcincin, DO and Ann Chiu, MD in Eye Care; David Gast, MD, in orthopedics; William Wood, MD in ear, nose, and throat; Vanessa Little, MD in palliative care; and Arthur Westermeyer, MD and Manisha Shah, MD in cardiology. We also welcomed back Charles Hechtman, MD in cancer care, Kristina Manion, DO in ear, nose, and throat; and Olivia Beaulieu, FNP in surgery.
Claude Boma, MD and John Brenner, DO both joined the AR Gould hospitalist team; while walk-in care locations in Presque Isle and Caribou were strengthened with the addition of Nancy Cosgrove, FNP, Rebecca Dias, FNP, and Amy Case, PA-C. And helping to round out the anesthesiology team were Terry Parsons, MD, Michael Saucier, CRNA, and Laura Jordan, CRNA.
Improving services
“While finding the right providers to come here is critical, there are many other aspects to providing quality services to our regions,” explains Reynolds. “We are always looking for ways to improve on what we are doing, and we had some wins we are proud of in this area for 2023.”
For instance, AR Gould Hospital recently centralized infusion services to one location. While the service itself isn’t new, the convenience of having these services in one location is. Outpatient infusion services have grown tremendously as more patients are able to be treated in the outpatient setting as opposed to being admitted to the hospital. Having a centralized center provides a better workflow process for both patients and staff.
The primary care team took on extra initiatives to help patients, including creating a series of annual wellness visit fairs to help ensure patients who qualified had access to one of these visits focused on preventive care, giving them the opportunity for a more comprehensive discussion, instead of being limited to a specific health issue. In nine days over a three-month period, 483 patients took part in one of these fairs. Promotion of these fairs also increased those who scheduled such a visit directly with their primary care provider, making the number even higher.
The Northern Light Health system also continued to make strides in its “Digital Doorway” efforts to make information and access to services easier for patients. In 2023 a new appointment reminder tool was launched that includes text reminders, the ability to confirm or cancel an appointment with a simple click, and the ability to complete registration information online using a link. A refill management tool was also launched to make processing refills more efficient and help ensure prescription accuracy.
Hitting quality benchmarks
“Hand in hand with services comes our commitment to quality, and one way to gauge that is by how we stand up to national benchmarks for excellence,” says Reynolds. “It’s not the awards or recognitions themselves that excite us, but rather what it stands for as a statement of our quality.”
In 2023, some of those recognitions at AR Gould included: meeting all validation requirements for year six of Safe Care: Obstetrics; continuation of Safe Sleep designation; earning a CMS “Birthing-Friendly” designation; having the Rehabilitation department certified as a UDS-PRO QI® credentialed facility; and reaccreditation of both the hospital’s sleep medicine and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation programs.
The hospital’s Continuing Care facility in Mars Hill was also recognized as an “Age Friendly” Health System, and AR Gould’s primary care practices achieved Primary Care Medical Home designation.
Bringing back live events
Many steps were taken to regain a sense of “normal” after the COVID pandemic. The most exciting of these were the return of live events for the community as well as employees.
In October, the hospital’s Fall Health Fair, which had been an annual event prior to COVID, was offered for the first time since 2019. This event features a wide offering of screenings, flu shots and information to help people take charge of their health.
The hospital’s Healthy Aging program also saw the return of periodic “lunch and learn” sessions for senior citizens focusing on topics of interest for their age group.
And for staff and providers, 2023 heralded the return of employee recognition events such as the annual Employee Service Awards and the VIP breakfast honoring those with 20 years or more of service at AR Gould.
Decreasing our impact on the environment
Northern Light Health has committed to reducing emission by 50 percent by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. AR Gould made strides toward that goal in 2023 in several ways. One example was the replacement of two of its older maintenance trucks with electric ones. The two Ford F-150 Lightning trucks can run up to 240 miles on a single charge, and since AR Gould is connected to the Canadian electric grid, electricity used to charge the vehicles is sourced from hydro and nuclear plants.
Supporting the next generation of healthcare workers
“Being in healthcare, we have a clearer understanding then most about the absolute necessity of investing in the next generation of healthcare professionals,” says Reynolds. “We are particularly pleased with being able to make a difference in the lives of many who are pursuing or interested in entering a career in healthcare.”
This happens in a variety of ways, including financial support given through scholarships and loans; paying people a wage to be trained in “Earn as You Learn” programs; supporting schedules of staff pursing their education; and providing a location for students to take part in clinical experiences in their field. AR Gould directly impacted the futures of more than 350 students in 2023.
A total of 115 nursing students completed clinical rotations through AR Gould, as did 25 medical (MD, DO) and advanced practitioner (FNP, PA) students. Another 23 students completed rotations in their areas of study, including physical/occupational/speech therapy, lab, pharmacy, radiology, respiratory therapy, social work, and health administration.
In addition to these structured clinical rotations, another 177 benefited from job shadow experiences to better determine if a certain career was right for them. This included 56 high school students, 59 college students, 57 Earn as You Learn participants, and five community members.
Looking ahead
“In many cases 2024 will be a lot of the same, as we build on groundwork already established,” explains Reynolds. “Quality initiatives will continue to be front and center. We will still be working hard to build and retain our team – both at the provider and staff level, as that is critical to providing safe, quality care, and this effort will continue to include support to those pursuing an education in healthcare. We will also continue to partner with other County organizations to make the most of our collective local resources to keep healthcare in rural America sustainable and even thrive far into the future.”
Reynolds says to be on the lookout in the weeks and months ahead for news on exciting things happening at AR Gould as the hospital works toward these goals.
