Tag Archive for: #mariaparhamhealth

Free Prostate Cancer Screening At MPH Sept. 29

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-information courtesy of Donna Young, MPH marketing & communication coordinator

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and the doctors and staff of Maria Parham Health are once again providing free prostate screenings for men in the community.

The screening event will take place on Thursday, Sept. 29 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. No appointments are needed; just show up at the hospital.

According to a press release from Donna Young, marketing & communication coordinator, all men are at risk for prostate cancer. Although about 13 out of every 100 American men will get prostate cancer during their lifetime, and of that figure several will die from it.

The most common risk factor is age. The older a man is, the greater the chance of getting prostate cancer, but some men are at an increased risk. African American men are more likely to get prostate cancer than other men, and more than twice as likely to die from it. African American men tend to get diagnosed at an earlier age, have more advanced disease when it is found, and tend to have a more severe type of prostate cancer than other men. Men who have a close blood relative (father, son or brother) who had prostate cancer are also at an increased risk.  The American Cancer Society recommends screenings for men 50 or older and those at a higher risk beginning at 45.

For more information, call the Maria Parham Cancer Center at 252.436.1656.

 

Maria Parham Welcomes New Family Nurse Practioner To GI Staff

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–Information courtesy of Donna Young, MPH marketing & communication coordinator

Maria Parham Health Tuesday announced that Colleen Truax, FNP has joined its staff and will be offering GI services to patients throughout Henderson, Vance County and the surrounding area.

“We are pleased to welcome Colleen Truax to our Maria Parham family as part of our growing GI practice,” said Bert Beard, MPH CEO.

“GI care is a growing need in our community, as diagnoses of colorectal cancer continue to increase among adults younger than 50 and recommendations are supporting earlier screenings. Maria Parham GI Associates will be an important practice as we work to slow the trend of later stage cancer findings to make our community healthier.”

Colleen Truax earned her Family Nurse Practitioner designation from Bradley University in Illinois, and also holds a Master’s Degree in Leadership and Administration from Roberts Wesleyan College. She has participated in several clinical rotations throughout the area, including work at North Carolina Specialty Hospital, Maria Parham Health and UNC Nash General Hospital.

Colleen Truax is seeing patients at Maria Parham GI Associates. To schedule an appointment, call (800)424-DOCS.

MPH Welcomes Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Mark Messner

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Maria Parham Health Friday announced that Mark Messmer, DO MS has joined its staff and will be offering orthopedic surgical services to patients in Henderson, Vance County and the surrounding region. Messmer comes from a military background and joins Maria Parham from his previous position as staff orthopedic surgeon at Camp Lejeune, according to a press statement from Donna Young, marketing & communication coordinator for MPH.

While at Lejeune, Messner’s patients were primarily active-duty personnel with the Marines and Navy with a variety of sports-related injuries and trauma. He specializes in sports, trauma, arthroplasty and general orthopedics, and becomes the second new orthopedic provider to join Maria Parham Health as the hospital continues to grow its orthopedic and surgical services.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Messmer to Henderson to practice at Maria Parham Health,” said CEO Bert Beard. “Orthopedic surgery is a growing need in our community, and Dr. Messmer’s training and military surgical background have given him a great breadth of experience in a wide range of procedures that people in our region need. This expertise will be important as Maria Parham Health works to make our community healthier.”

Messmer was graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor of science degree in human biology. He has a master’s degree in medical education and holds a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Messmer, a member of the American Osteopathic Association of Orthopedics and the  American Osteopathic Association, is scheduling patients at Maria Parham Orthopaedics. To schedule an appointment, please call 800.424.DOCS.

Scott Riley Joins Maria Parham Orthopaedics Team

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Maria Parham Health has announced that Scott F. Riley, PA-C, has joined the Maria Parham Orthopaedics team and will be seeing patients at 120 Charles Rollins Road in Henderson.

“We are excited to continue growing orthopedic access in the communities we serve with the addition of Scott,”said Maria Parham Health Market CEO Bert Beard. “He, Dr. Darius Divina and Dr. Mark Messmer (joining Maria Parham Orthopaedics in August) will ensure patients’ orthopedic needs can be met close to home in Franklin, Vance and Person counties.”

Riley earned his Master of Health Sciences in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine in December 2021. He also has completed numerous clinical rotations, including orthopedic medicine, surgical medicine and emergency medicine.

For more information about Maria Parham’s orthopedic services, visit MariaParham.com/orthopedics.

To schedule an appointment with Scott Riley, PA-C, call 800.424.DOCS.

 

 

Maria Parham Franklin To Hold Job Fair July 28

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Maria Parham Franklin is scheduling a company-wide job fair for Thursday, July 28. Interested individuals are invited to visit between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to learn about the various positions that are available at the facility, located at 100 Hospital Drive.

Representatives from several departments will be on hand to take applications, answer questions and are prepared to make job offers on the spot, according to information from MPH marketing & communication coordinator Donna Young.

Positions are available in most departments, both clinical and non-clinical, but officials are especially seeking applicants for the following positions:

  • RNs in the Behavioral Health department for adult and geriatric units – day, evening & PRN
  • behavioral health techs for adult and geriatric units – day, evening & PRN
  • behavioral health receptionist/secretary – M-F, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
  • behavioral health recreation therapist for the adult unit – M-F, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Applications are accepted for the above positions at Maria Parham Physician Practices and at Maria Parham Health in Henderson, 566 Ruin Creek Rd.

Job seekers can learn more at MariaParham.com/Careers.

MPH Welcomes Gastroenterologist Mamun Shahrier To Staff

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-information courtesy of Maria Parham Health

Maria Parham Health has announced that Mamun Shahrier, MD, PhD, FACP has joined its staff and will be offering GI services to patients throughout Henderson, Vance County and the surrounding area. Shahrier is a gastroenterologist with more than 30 years of clinical experience.

“Having worked with Dr. Shahrier for more than six years across two markets, I am very excited to welcome him to Maria Parham,” said MPH CEO Bert Beard. “His knowledge of the region and proven track record of delivering high-quality patient care will benefit the communities we serve tremendously.”

Shahrier is board-certified in gastroenterology and most recently worked at Wilson Gastroenterology, where he saw patients and performed GI procedures for  more than five years.

He was graduated from Dhaka Medical College, Bangladesh in 1984 and earned his PhD from The Medical College of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London in 1993. He served an internal medicine at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY in 1999 and completed a fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 2002.

Shahrier is seeing new and established patients at his office at Maria Parham GI Associates. For a referral or to schedule an appointment, please call 252.430.8111.

Guthrie Named Chief Medical Officer At Maria Parham Health

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-information courtesy of Maria Parham Health

Maria Parham Health has announced that Dr. Shauna Guthrie has been named the organization’s chief medical officer.

In her new role, Guthrie will set direction for Maria Parham Health’s medical department and provide leadership in collaboration with local health systems, community-based providers and academic institutions. Guthrie also will build upon the hospital’s current clinical and medical care foundation as she adds her expertise to further drive innovation in health care, according to a press statement issued Friday.

“We are elated to welcome Dr. Guthrie to our executive team,” said MPH CEO Bert Beard. “Her work serving the community as a provider and medical director for Granville Vance Public Health give her intimate knowledge of the needs of the communities we serve and the broader political structures we will need to navigate to continue to meet those health needs. The fact she will continue in her public health role as well will also further strengthen our coordination of care in the region.”

Guthrie will continue her role as medical director for GVPH, a role she has had for the past seven years. She also has a private practice, Sunflower Direct Primary Care, in April 2021 in downtown Henderson.

Guthrie is a graduate of the New Hampshire Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency in Concord, NH. After graduation, she stayed in New Hampshire to participate in the Dartmouth Hitchcock Leadership Preventive Medicine Residency where she completed a Masters in Public Health with a focus in quality improvement.

With more than a decade of clinical and health care leadership experience to MPH. She is board certified in Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine. Guthrie came to Henderson seeking warmer weather in 2013 where she was in private practice, seeing adult patients and delivering babies at Granville Health System and Maria Parham Health.

She also enjoys giving back to the profession by teaching students and residents. Guthrie currently sits on the executive board of directors for the NC Academy of Family Physicians as the president-elect and will assume the role of president in December 2022.

Maria Parham Now Communicates ER Wait Times

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If you had needed to travel to the emergency room of Maria Parham Health on Friday night at 7:30, your estimated wait time would have been in the single digits as evidenced by the screen grab of mariaparham.com you clicked on for this article.

Minutes matter when it comes to saving lives, and those minutes often matter to prospective patients who may need any form of care.  “How long will I have to wait?” You’ve said or thought those words before.

Maria Parham Health not only wants you to know about receiving high quality emergency care 24/7, but the local regional medical center now seeks to better inform about average emergency department (ED) wait times.

On its web site and in an information release sent to WIZS, how the time is calculated and what to expect are spelled out.

How it’s calculated

“When you see a time, such as 14 minutes, displayed on our website or on the billboard, it is important to understand that this is a four-hour rolling average. Each person who enters our Emergency Department is tracked through a computerized system. The person’s registration time in the ED and “greet time”, which is the time when the patient is greeted by a qualified medical professional, are used to calculate the average wait times. The computerized system automatically averages the most recent four-hour time period, which is updated every 15 minutes throughout the day.”

What to expect

“The average wait time is accurate, reliable and regularly updated. However, due to the natural flux in patient volume, it is possible for a person to experience a shorter, or longer, wait time in our Emergency Department than what is displayed on the signage. Furthermore, patients are prioritized based on severity of the complaint or reason for the visit. This is why we use the four-hour rolling average; it minimizes variance by factoring in the natural ebb and flow of emergency departments. At Maria Parham Health, our priority is to deliver quality care close to home for the people in our communities. We hope you find this new information helpful should you find yourself in the middle of a medical emergency.”

(Maria Parham is an advertising client of WIZS. This is not a paid ad.)

Blackwell Named 2022 Mercy Award Winner

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-information courtesy of Maria Parham Health

Maria Parham Health’s Kelly Blackwell has been recognized as the facility’s 2022 Mercy Award winner.

The Mercy Award recognizes one employee from each of LifePoint Health’s facilities who “profoundly touches the lives of others and best represents the spirit and values on which the company was founded,” according to a press statement from Donna Young, MPH’s Coordinator  of Marketing & Communications.

The Mercy Award is an annual recognition program established in 2002 to honor the life and contributions of Scott Mercy, LifePoint’s founding chairman and chief executive officer. The award is considered the highest honor a LifePoint employee can receive.

“At Maria Parham Health we share LifePoint’s commitment to making communities healthier, and we recognize this is supported by the good work and service of our employees on and off the job,” said MPH CEO Bert Beard.

“We are extremely proud to recognize Kelly Blackwell for her efforts on behalf of our patients and our community. She goes above and beyond each and every day to ensure that every person she encounters receives the highest level of care and compassion,” Beard continued.

Blackwell has been a registered nurse for 36 years, working across the spectrum of care and currently working in the hospital’s Cancer Center. Beyond her work in the Cancer Center, Kelly volunteers for mission work, taking her skills to Haiti, Honduras and Uganda multiple times. Blackwell participates in various ministries, including widow’s ministry, children’s ministries, and mission team.

As a member of Maria Parham’s team since 1995, Blackwell’s dedication, empathy and kindness has bonded her to our team and her patients. Her service to the hospital and the community is inspiring to others. She is a leader among our team, and she leads through service to others.

Blackwell and the other Mercy Award winners will vie for company-wide Mercy Award; the companywide winner will be announced later in the summer at a ceremony in Nashville, TN.

TownTalk: Maria Parham Memorial Day Ceremony

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Maria Parham Health was the site Thursday morning for a solemn ceremony to remember all the members of the military who have given their lives in service to the country and to hear read aloud the 77 names of members from the local area who died serving their country.

CEO Bert Beard welcomed those in attendance to begin the “No Greater Love” observance, in which various members of the hospital staff had roles. Pastor Frank Sossamon led opening and closing prayers and members of hospital security presented the colors. Travis Thompson, director of imaging and wound care, led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and Hope Schuler, daughter of MPH employee Lisa VanFleet, sang the National Anthem.

Rickey Padgett, with N.C. Detective Agency and also a member of the hospital staff, shared remarks and reflected on what the Memorial Day holiday means. It’s a time to remember all men and women in uniform, Padgett told the gathering but especially those who sacrificed their lives.

“They paid the price so that we could be here today,” he said. The families of the fallen continue to grieve, so it is also important for us to remember, Padgett said, “and to celebrate the freedoms that we have and the life we are given…to remain grateful and never forget.”

Padgett said he had been friends with one particular man who also was a veteran of World War II. This friend had told Padgett that, upon his death, Padgett would receive something from him. That “something” turned out to be a long, typewritten letter – from a real typewriter, not a word processor – that recounted some of what the man had encountered as a U.S. infantryman in the European theater.

Padgett read excerpts from this letter, which chronicled snowy, muddy conditions on and near battlefields in France and the grim task of recovering soldiers’ bodies strewn along the countryside.

“’I could hear the Germans digging foxholes’” in the snowy landscape not far from where this soldier and his unit were camped, the letter read. “’We had to pick up dead bodies, American and German,’” Padgett continued.

Although he said he has met and talked with many veterans of World War II, Padgett said this letter helped answer a question he had often wondered about: How do the bodies of fallen soldiers make it back home, where they can be laid to rest and receive a proper burial?

Soldiers like the one who wrote the letter and sent it to Padgett, that’s how.

Whether it was from a battlefield in Europe or the desert-like conditions in Afghanistan, members of the military take care of each other until the end.

Padgett said he asked this friend what he did in the war. “He said, ‘I was a soldier,’” Padgett recalled.

A simple answer with layers and layers of meaning.

Listen to the recorded ceremony in its entirety just below.

Click Play