Aroostook County hospital readies for new wave of physicians, services

FORT KENT – The Northern Maine Medical Center and its affiliated clinics are on the move in the next couple months with new services, facilities and doctors.

In August, NMMC is beginning a new era in the delivery of mental health care services with the opening of its long-anticipated child-adolescent psychiatric unit.

Once open, the seven-bed psychiatric unit will be the temporary home for troubled youngsters, 4 to 18 years old, who are having significant difficulty in coping with demands of family, school and community life.

In September, a new rehabilitation center will be open in the former Pelletier & Pelletier and Sons building on East Main Street. The new center will include a Veterans Administration clinic and more modern facilities for the medical center’s rehabilitation services.

In August, September and October, eight new doctors will join the medical staff of 12 doctors. The doctors will be located at Fort Kent, Madawaska and Eagle Lake. It is the largest number of physicians ever to be affiliated with the facility.

“We worked long and hard to find these doctors and bring them to the area,” Martin Bernstein, executive director of NMMC, said Thursday. “We are excited to be able to recruit young, well-educated, and enthusiastic physicians to the St. John Valley.”

Two of the doctors are replacements for doctors who have left the area, but six are coming to provide new services in adolescent psychiatry and full-time orthopedic services. All eight have done their residency training in the United States or Canada.

“All of a sudden, we’ve struck gold with physicians,” Bernstein said. “Our communities will be even better served.”

Bernstein said the hospital has been recruiting for a long time in the face of many challenges. The most difficult challenges to overcome are location, the geography of northern Maine, and the tremendous demand for physicians across rural and urban America.

Last week, Dr. Marianna Sarnik, whose specialty is internal medicine, arrived to replace Dr. Sanjay Lamba at the Madawaska Outpatient Center.

On Aug. 15, Dr. Tolga Taneli, a child psychiatrist filling a new position, will come for the opening of the adolescent psychiatric center. He will start seeing patients one week after his arrival.

Also next month, Dr. Simona Suchan will arrive to replace an adult psychiatrist who has left the area.

Dr. Elizabeth Dela Toree, whose specialty is internal medicine with geriatric training, will join the staff in August. Her arrival will allow Dr. Yvonne Menalo, another internist, more time to extend her practice into oncology and hematology work.

Dr. Karen Bruck, a family practitioner who also does obstetrics and pediatrics, will start her practice Sept. 4 at the Acadia Family Health Center in the former Acadia School on East Main Street in Madawaska.

Dr. John Naranja, an orthopedic surgeon, will start a full-time orthopedics practice Aug. 14, in both Fort Kent and Madawaska.

Dr. Beril Bayrak, a pediatrician will start working with the adolescent psychiatric unit in October. He also will practice at the Madawaska Outpatient Center.

Dr. Peter de Schwieinitz, a general practitioner who will be affiliated with the Fish River Rural Health Center in Eagle Lake, also will provide services in Fort Kent starting in mid-August.

An open house will be held in August for the adolescent psychiatric unit, located on the second floor at NMMC. It is the only facility of its kind north of Bangor and will serve children from most of Aroostook County.

The 11 full-time personnel have received training at Acadia Hospital in Bangor and Jackson Brook Institute in Portland.

The rehabilitation center will open in September. Construction is going on now. NMMC was asked by the Veterans Administration to locate a clinic in Fort Kent. The new clinic will be located in the Pelletier & Pelletier building.

The rehabilitation side of that project will triple the space rehabilitation therapy now has in the hospital. Included will be modernized facilities and equipment.

Through all that, NMMC is in the middle of a $6 million expansion program at its main facility in Fort Kent. That project includes a three-story physicians’ office building to the rear of the present hospital. That will house all physicians, whose offices now are scattered throughout the hospital. The $6 million program is the first major construction at NMMC in 20 years.

Specialty clinics for ophthalmology, orthopedics and urology will be moved from the second floor of the hospital to the new building.

The two buildings will be connected and the new building will also include an ambulatory clinic. Hospital officials hope to get the foundation of the new building in the ground before the winter freeze. The facility is scheduled to open in mid 2002.

“We’ve never been busier,” Bernstein said. “All of this has created many challenges, but we are managing to keep our heads above water.”

All of the projects, Bernstein said, are part of a long-term strategic plan by NMMC.

The hospital was built in 1952 and is licensed for 52 beds. After renovations were made to move toward outpatient care about a decade ago, the facility actually has 35 beds available. About 1,500 admissions are made a year and 30,000 outpatient visits are logged. NMMC serves a population of 14,000 people for normal health care and a population of nearly 90,000 for psychiatric care.