A newsletter of health information from Mayo Regional Hospital * Summer 2002
 Mayo Regional Hospital completed a 15-month construction/renovation project this summer, capping off Phase I of its multiyear facilities expansion plan. “Phase I came in on schedule and on budget,” reported Chief Executive Officer Ralph Gabarro, who praised Monitor Builders, the construction subsidiary of DiGiorgio Associates architects. Mayo occupied two areas of new construction earlier this year, moving into the two-story Resource Center in February and into the enlarged Emergency Department wing in May. “The positive reaction of our staff, as well as the community, to the new facilities has been gratifying. The project has brought a new level of energy and excitement to Mayo,” said Gabarro. The Resource Center, a 13,000-square-foot addition facing Dwelley Avenue at the hospital’s rear, includes Mayo’s Rehabilitation Services Department, WorkWISE occupational health service and business offices on the top floor. Its ground floor contains conference rooms, administration, medical records, a medical library and the medical staff lounge. The new Emergency Department, at 5,500 square feet, nearly triples the space formerly available in the ED, which sees nearly 12,000 patients annually. Since the spring, the focus of Phase I shifted from new construction to extensive renovation of existing space on the hospital’s first floor, where all outpatient services are now concen trated. First-floor renovations have created new space for Cardiopulmonary Services, Radiology, Patient Registration, the entry lobby and public areas. On the hospital’s second floor, the Obstetrics Department has undergone a complete renovation. Gabarro said the project is designed to improve both the quality and confidentialty of patient care. Also as part of Phase I, which was budgeted at $6.3 million, Mayo demolished the wing of the Old Mayo Building to open up the hospital campus, increase access to parking areas and improve traffic flow. Following the demolition, crews from Haley Construction of Sangerville spent much of the summer on exterior renovations affecting the main driveway, front entrance, ambulance entrance and short-term patient parking. The expansion project has retained the main Mayo Building, formerly Mayo Memorial Hospital, which is the site of Oncology Services and administrative offices. Now that Mayo has completed Phase I, the hospital is evaluating the timing of its approach to Phase II of the facility expansion. Phase II will add a 5,500-square-foot addition on the hospital’s west end for an enlarged Ambulatory Surgical Unit, and renovate 3,000 square feet for surgical services, the Imaging Center for Women, Pharmacy and other ancillary areas. Phase II will cost an additional $2 million, and Mayo intends to start this project by spring, 2003. Funding for Mayo’s expansion has come through borrowing from the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, through hospital operations and from external fundraising activities. Mayo has raised $730,000 from external sources, including a $250,000 lead gift for Phase II from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation. |
Richard L. “Chip” Wallingford III, M.D. will begin practicing locally on Aug. 19, splitting his time between Dover-Foxcroft Family Medicine and Corinna Family Practice. Scott A. McLaughlin, M.D. will begin practicing in mid-October at Guilford Medical Associates. Dr. Wallingford completed a three-year internship and residency in Family Medicine in June with the Maine-Dartmouth Family Practice residency program in Augusta. Dr. Wallingford is a Maine native who grew up in Lincoln and Rockwood. He attended Greenville High School, graduating in 1989, then earned a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Rochester. He completed his medical degree at the University of Vermont in 1999. His father, Richard, Jr., is an optometrist who is clinical director for Vision Care of Maine in Bangor. His mother, Elaine, operates Mt. Kineo Cabins on Moosehead Lake in Rockwood. Dr. Wallingford is a licensed Maine Guide and a National Ski Patrol member whose interests include alpine skiing, whitewater kayaking, mountaineering and hiking. He has worked as a guide for Wilderness Expeditions of Rockwood on the West Branch of the Penobscot River, and for Hudson River Rafting Co. on the Moose River. He and his wife, Heather, who were married in February, have purchased a home on Sebec Lake in Bowerbank. Dr. McLaughlin will be moving to Piscataquis County from Woodbury, Conn., with his wife, Tara, who is a nurse. He is an experienced internal medicine specialist, with a specific interest in geriatric care, and will be scheduling office hours four days each week at Guilford. Dr. McLaughlin was medical director at the Southbury (Conn.) Geriatric Center from 1993-1996, providing comprehensive primary care for patients age 65 and above. He has been a staff physician and, most recently, the medical director for Primary Care of Southbury, an internal medicine/urgent care practice. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Yale University, Dr. McLaughlin earned his medical degree from New York Medical College in 1989. He completed his residency at Danbury (Conn.) Hospital, an affiliate of Yale School of Medicine. Since 1993, he has been certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. McLaughlin’s personal interests include hiking, landscaping, fitness and woodworking. |
Mayo Regional Administrative Services Corporation, the physician management affiliate of Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, expanded its network of doctors’ offices earlier this year with the addition of Corinna Family Practice in February, and Mayo Pediatrics in March. Mayo now owns or manages nine physician practices in five Penquis region communities: Corinna, Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford and Milo.
Local healthcare services were restored to Corinna residents on Feb. 11 with the opening of Corinna Family Practice in the town-owned medical office building on Route 7. Mayo has signed a 10-year lease agreement with the Town of Corinna for the medical office building. The office is staffed Monday through Friday, with a healthcare provider on site four days each week. Medical services are provided by a mix of practitioners: Richard “Chip” Wallingford III, M.D., a family practice physician; Lisa Bartley, a family nurse practitioner; and Mark Hanson, a physician assistant. Advice on after-hours healthcare needs is provided through a nursing triage system accessible to patients via telephone. Corinna Family Practice may be contacted at 278-3238. John Pearsall, M.D. opened Mayo Pediatrics on March 11 and sees patients two days per week in Dover-Foxcroft. Dr. Pearsall, who is the only pediatrician in the Penquis region, has his office on the second floor of the Medical Office Building on the Mayo Regional Hospital campus, and can be reached at 564-2340. Pediatrics is the specialty of medical science concerned with the health and development of children from birth to young adulthood. Pediatric care encompasses a broad spectrum of health services ranging from preventive health care to the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic diseases. Dr. Pearsall is from Arkansas, where he received his undergraduate education at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, and earned a medical degree at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine in 1988. After completing his pediatric residency in the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Pearsall practiced medicine for 10 years in North Dakota, Arkansas and Alaska before moving to Maine last summer. Dr. Pearsall has been board certified in general pediatrics since 1991 and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. |
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It has been over 70 years since the first life-saving antibiotic, penicillin, was discovered. But in recent years inappropriate use of antibiotics has yielded these drugs less effective. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria that cause infection are not killed by the antibiotics taken to stop the infection. Those bacteria that survive carry genes that allow them to evade the drugs intended to destroy them. Antibiotics do not directly cause this resistance, but they do create an environment where the resistant strains of bacteria can multiply. Overuse of antibiotics helps cause the resistance. As antibiotic-resistant bacteria become more common, hospitals and nursing homes are seeing increasing numbers of patients with staph infections. Nationally, the infection rate is close to 50%. The problem is much less serious in Piscataquis County, but even locally the rate of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections has risen from 4% in 1996 to 18% today. This trend is a problem, because infections caused by resistant bacteria fail to respond to treatment, resulting in prolonged illness. To address this issue, a Long-Term Care Task Force that includes representatives from Mayo Regional Hospital, the Charlotte White Center and local nursing and boarding homes has been meeting regularly to discuss effective infection control measures. The group hopes to raise public awareness of problems caused by inappropriate use of antibiotics. Their #1 recommendation: Don’t pressure your doctor to prescribe antibiotics for viral infections. “Antibiotics aren’t effective against viruses and that only adds to the problem by increasing the number of resistant organisms,” said Charlotte Dornan, Mayo’s Infection Control nurse. The Task Force has an even simpler recommendation to reduce the spread of staph infections in health care facilities: Hand washing. “Hand washing, using regular soap and warm running water for 20 seconds, is the single most important way to control the spread of infections from patient to patient,” said Dornan. “Staff and visitors should wash their hands before and after contact with a patient.” It will take vigilance and time before the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is slowed, but it’s worth the effort. “We don’t want to go back to the pre-antibiotic era,” said Dornan. What can be done?
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