UM Shore Regional Health at Cambridge to Open in Late September

Construction of our new University of Maryland Shore Regional Health at Cambridge is on schedule for opening in late September. This comprehensive, freestanding medical facility (FMF) will offer the following programs and services:

• Cardiac Rehabilitation
• Chronic Disease Management
• Diagnostic Imaging and Laboratory Services
• Emergency Care
• Infusion
• Multi-Specialty Suite (diabetes, cardiology and urology)
• Outpatient Surgery
• Pediatrics
• Rehabilitation Care
• Women’s Health

State of Maryland regulated and unregulated services will be separated by floor as follows:

Shore Medical Center at Cambridge (first floor, entrance on the right of the building) – The Center will include a 22-bed emergency department, including telemedicine capabilities for ED specialist consultations, six private observation beds and a separate, three-bed unit for the assessment and treatment of patients needing behavioral health emergency care. Intensive outpatient behavioral health services, infusion and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation also will be located on the first floor. An adjacent MRI facility will provide outpatient and emergency department imaging access.

Shore Medical Pavilion at Cambridge (second floor, separate entrance on the left of the building) – The Pavilion will include an outpatient surgery center, diagnostic imaging and laboratory services, rehabilitation services (including the Balance Center), chronic disease management services and a community education room. The Cambridge offices of UM Shore Medical Group pediatric, women’s health and surgery practices also will be located on the second floor, along with a multispecialty suite where patients can see providers from various specialties including Cardiology, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Primary Care and Urology.

Shore Behavioral Health: Transition of Inpatient Care to SMC at Easton

Plans for the transition of Shore Behavioral Health’s Inpatient Care Unit from Dorchester to Easton are well in progress. The newly renovated and secured, 12-bed unit on the third floor of the Easton hospital is being readied for occupancy, and plans are set for the transition period, August 25 – September 9. Please note:

• As of August 25, we will discontinue involuntary psychiatric admissions at the Dorchester hospital
• As of September 1, we will discontinue voluntary psychiatric admissions.
• Both types of admission will resume on September 9 at UM Shore Medical Center in Easton.

Patients needing inpatient behavioral health care during the transition will be referred to other community providers.

As always, patients needing assessment for behavioral health issues may still present at any UM Shore Regional Health Emergency Department to be seen by the Behavioral Health Response Team (BHRT). This team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide mental health and substance abuse evaluations, and referrals for adults and children in need.

Update: Transforming Health Care in Kent and Northern Queen Anne’s Counties

Since January 2021, Shore Regional Health has worked in concert with Maryland State regulatory agencies and various community partners to roll out a number of exciting new initiatives in support of health care transformation in Kent and northern Queen Anne’s counties. Recent developments include:

• Through a partnership with Choptank Community Health to establish a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Chestertown, residents of Kent and northern Queen Anne’s County will have greater access to primary care, behavioral health and dental health care providers beginning in July 2022.
• We welcomed two new health care leaders to our Chestertown team: Dennis Welsh, Vice President, Rural Health Transformation and Executive Director, UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown; and Lara Wilson, Director, Rural Health Transformation.
• We defined the path and have undertaken steps to achieve the Age Friendly Health System designation.
• Our emergency care team in Chestertown has been enhanced with the addition of Katherine Selman, MD, who completed a fellowship in geriatric medicine and will support the Chestertown hospital’s achievement of designation as a Geriatric Emergency Department.
• Michele Domenick, MD, has joined UM Shore Medical Group – Surgical Care and is based at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown.
• UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown now has a Community Advisory Committee, comprised of local citizens who will provide ideas and feedback for the hospital’s continued progress and the advancement of health care services in the region.
• Jeannette Jeffrey has been hired as health educator for the region. When she comes on board at the end of this month, Jeffrey will serve in an outreach capacity, working with community partners to provide evidence-based health education and wellness services both at the hospital and off-site.
• The Rural Maryland Council Grant Review Board has notified us that our $125,000 grant proposal for our Chestertown Mobile Wellness Team has been approved for funding, and hiring and onboarding are now in process for the team, which will include a nurse coordinator, a social worker and two community health advocates.
• Telemedicine: With the recent addition of Nephrology and Neurology, patients may now receive care via telemedicine in eight medical specialties (others are Behavioral Health, Cardiology, Palliative Care, Orthopedics, Pediatrics and Pulmonology). We anticipate adding Endocrinology, Infectious Disease and Gastroenterology to this list before the end of the year.

Introducing EMSTAT: A New Model of Emergency Care

Now in place in all four of Shore Regional Health’s Emergency Departments, EMSTAT (Emergency Medicine Stabilization Team) is a novel model for mobile critical care delivery. The goal of EMSTAT is to provide ongoing resuscitation and stabilization of critically ill patients when ICU transfer is not immediately available.

EMSTAT teams are comprised of emergency care physicians and nurse call team members with critical care training. The teams provide: resuscitation and stabilization of critically ill patients at the Emergency Department bedside; verbal orders while the EMSTAT team is in transit to the emergency facility; ongoing management of critically ill patients; and arrangements for transfer of the patient to definitive care with ride-along transfer support.

Piloted during this past spring, the EMSTAT program has facilitated high-quality critical care while allowing emergency department staff  to attend to non-critical patients. At present, the provider/nurse on-call EMSTAT team is available Monday through Friday, from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. and plans in development to expand EMSTAT coverage.

Retirements

UM Shore Regional Health extends gratitude for the many years of service to our health care system and our patients provided by retiring physicians William Fritz, MD, UM SMG – Pediatrics (retirement effective August 31, 2021); Gerard O’Connor, MD, Surgery, Shore Medical Center at Chestertown (retirement effective July 30, 2021); and Mary DeShields, MD, Medical Director, UM SMG – Oncology (retirement effective August 31, 2021). Dr. DeShields will continue in a consulting capacity for the Cancer Center’s clinical trials through the month of September.

Welcome, New Providers

Since the last edition of PulseCheck we have welcomed several new providers to our University of Maryland Shore Medical Group practices. They are:

• Michele Domenick, MD – SMG – Surgical Care/Chestertown
• Roberta Lilly, MD, FACS, Interim Director, Clark Comprehensive Breast Center
• Michael Pallone, MD, SMG – Pediatrics/Easton
• Christina Seningen, MSN, CRNP, FNP-C, SMG – Pediatrics/Chestertown
• Rena Sukhdeo Singh, MD, SMG – Neurology
• Beth Sykes, MS, ACNP, UM SMG – Gastroenterology