A newsletter of health information from Mayo Regional Hospital * Summer 2000
 Elizabeth "Betsy" A. Vanderburgh, M.D., most recently a staff OB-GYN at Travis Air Force Base in California, has signed a contract with Mayo Regional Administrative Services Corporation and began practicing in Dover-Foxcroft on July 10. MRASC is a subsidary of the hospital and operated physician offices in Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford and Milo. "The recruitment of Dr. Vanderburgh marks a significant success in our goal of developing a comprehensive program targeted toward meeting the health care needs of women in our service area," said Ralph Gabarro, Mayo's Chief Executive Officer. A fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, Dr. Vanderburgh has been board certified in OB-GYN since 1994, and is the only OB-GYN specialist in the Penquis region. Her practice, Mayo Women's Health, is located in the medical office building on the hospital campus. Women may call 564-0204 to schedule an appointment. Dr. Vanderburgh graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1984 with an undergraduate degree in biology and earned her medical degree in 1988 from the Uniformed Services university of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD. She completed her OB-GYN residency at Wright State University/Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio, and has been staff OB-GYN in the Air Force since 1992, obtaining the rank of Major. Dr. Vanderburgh has relocated to the Dover-Foxcroft area with her husband, Joe, and sons Jay 6, and Alex 1. Dr. Vanderburgh will offer prenatal care, labor and delivery services, routine to complicated gynecological care, from pap smears to any kind of GYN problem, and care for postmenopausal women. She will also do most major gynecological surgical procedures: tubal ligations, hysterectomies, and D and C (dilation and curettage). Dr. Vanderburgh will complement existing family practice physicians providing obstetrical care in the region. They include Susan Luthin, M.D. and David McDermott, M.D. at Dover-Foxcroft Family Medicine; Challa Reddy, M.D. at Dexter Family Practice; Usha Reddy, M.D. and James Berry, M.D. at Guilford Medical Associates; Kathleen Thibault, D.O. at Milo Family Practice; and Brian Griffin, M.D. at Norumbega Medical Specialists in Greenville. |
 The recruitment of internal medicine physician Larry Labul, D.O. to Dover-Foxcroft Family Practice has a major side benefit -- it allows Mayo Regional Hospital to expand the successful hospitalist program begun three years ago by Tom Murray, M.D. Hospitalists are physicians who specialize in providing intensive care to hospitalized patients, working with the patient's primary care physician in either a consulting or primary care role. It's a further extension of how specialized medicine has become," said Dr. Murray. "With the intensity of medicine practiced today, the patient often can be better served by someone who is in attendance in the hospital. A hospitalist provides care as rapidly, safely and cost effective as necessary, so that the patient can return home as soon as possible." Drs. Murray and Labul stress that hospitalists do not "take over" a patient from a primary care physician after admission. The relationship between hospitalist and primary care physician is a cooperative one. "We're a referral source," said Dr. Murray. "The family practice doctors may still see their patients during daily rounds in the hospital, and they communicate regularly with the hospitalist on the plan of care. We all share results and ideas, but the hospitalist provides the hands-on care in the hospital." The hospitalist system works, and has resulted in increased patient satisfaction and shorter lengths of stay, while allowing Mayo to care for a higher acuity level of patients. Primary care practices have also seen a benefit, since physicians spend less out-of-office time going back and forth to the hospital, are able to see more patients in an outpatient setting, and reschedule fewer appointments. Dr. Labul said the hospitalist program helped attract him to Mayo. "I like the variety of caring for patients in the hospital and in the office. I didn't want to do the same thing over and over again." At Dover-Foxcroft Family Practice, Dr. Labul will take over Dr. Murray's existing internal medicine patients, and also help expand the hospitalist coverage. Dr. Murray will no longer see patients on an outpatient basis, but will concentrate in the hospitalist role and his duties as physician director of Mayo's Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit. "It will be a smooth transition we're taking a team approach to patient care," said Dr. Murray. "I'll help Dr. Labul take over my established office practice, and we'll both work to care for patients who are admitted to the hospital." |
|
While the department performs procedures in a variety of surgical specialties -- orthopaedics, opthalmology, obstetrics and urology the majority of operating room cases (972 in 1999) come under the category of general surgery. Within "general" surgery the variety of cases is also wide, ranging from translaparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder), to breast surgeries, to hernia repairs and bowel resections, to endoscopy (flexible sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy and upper endoscopy). The surgeons performing these general surgical procedures are Robert Bach, M.D., Pamela Nourse, M.D. and Peter Buerger, M.D. That trio of physicians comprises Mayo Surgical Associates, a practice located in the medical office building on the Mayo Regional Hospital campus. |
 Dr. Bach earned his undergraduate degree at Princeton and graduated from Columbia Medical School in 1965. He completed his residency in Michigan and served in the U.S. Navy from 1970-72 at the Annapolis Naval Hospital. After leaving the military, he established his own medical practice in North Conway and Berlin, N.H.
While continuing his general surgery practice, Dr. Bach pursued his specialty in thoracic medicine when in 1978 he completed his Thoracic Fellowship at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston. From 1985-1992, Dr. Bach was a well-known surgeon as an affiliate of Eastern Maine Medical Center. Opting for the atmosphere of a small-town practice, he made the move to Mayo Regional in 1994.
Because of Dr. Bach's generosity and desire to help the less fortunate, in 1975 he established the Partners in Health organization in Nicaragua, where he continues to provide medical services twice annually. |
 Dr. Nourse's medical career began after she graduated from Wellesley College and went on to medical school at Tufts University. She completed two surgery practice with a special years of surgical training in New Britain, Conn., in 1989, then served in the U.S. Army until 1993 as a general medical officer, including a tour of duty during Desert Storm. Dr. Nourse spent five years, from 1993-98, as resident and Instructor of Surgery at Michigan Stat'e University. Desiring to establish her own practice, in 1998 Dr. Nourse chose Mayo Regional Hospital. She now has a thriving general surgery practice and continues to accept new patients. |
 Dr. Buerger graduated from State University of New York (SUNY) in Buffalo with a degree in biochemistry, and earned his medical degree from SUNY in 1988. He then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he completed his residency. During his 11 years serving in the Air Force, he gained knowledge and experience in general surgery in both Japan and Germany. As a member of the Christian Medical Society, Dr. Buerger was recruited for Mayo Surgical Associates by Dr. Bach in 1999. Dr. Buerger maintains a general surgery practice with a special interest in endoscopy. |
|
The Heartwise cardiac rehabilitation program at Mayo Regional Hospital is on the ground floor of a statewide initiative to improve the treatment outcomes of patients with Congestive Heart Failure. CHF is a condition in which the heart can not pump enough blood to meet the needs of the body's other organs. Although the heart still operates it does not work as well as it should. As the patient's blood flow lessens and slows, the blood returning to the heart through the veins backs up, causing congestion in body tissues. Under normal circumstances, patients with CHF are highly likely to be hospitalized repeatedly for the condition. According to Maine's Bureau of Health, CHF is the number one reason for hospital readmissions in the state. Mayo is one of the first hospitals in Maine to roll out a new program to help patients suffering from CHE Under this program, patients are regularly called by a specially trained nurse who helps them monitor their health, and offers advice and support when needed. In trials across the country, interventions like this one have reduced CHF hospital admissions by 50%, decreased the time patients spend in the hospital by 75%, and have cut patient bills by about half. Another favorable aspect of Mayo's participation in the program is that it is offered free of charge for patients who have been admitted to the hospital with CHF. Mayo officials felt so strongly that they wanted to do more for these patients that they worked with the Maine Health Alliance, a coalition of small hospitals in central and northern Maine, to receive two grants to cover the cost of nurse staff time and the computer program used to record and track the impact of their interventions. The federal government is also interested such programs, and recently announced it would consider making them a covered Medicare benefit in 2002. Planning for the CHF project began in 1997 when Gov. Angus King convened the first annual Cardiovascular Health Summit. In 1999, a task force including representatives of hospitals, physicians, home health agencies, Medicaid, Medicare and the Maine Cardiovascular Health Council developed the key elements of a physician-directed nurse case management program that every hospital in the state could duplicate. Mayo Regional and other small community hospitals in the northern tier of Maine, members of the Maine Health Alliance, are leading the charge on this project in an effort to improve the quality of life for heart patients and reduce the cost of care for patients and the community at large. Statistics show the prevalence of cardiac disease continues to rise in Maine, with an estimated 40,000 cases annually of congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease in the state, costing upwards of $700 million. The cost of managing cardiac disease is expected to increase, based on an aging population and the improved survival rate of patients, unless savings cn be achieved through after-care support such as offered through the CHF project.
|