Hampden woman takes top hospital post

HAMPDEN – Ann Marie Rush, 41, is the new chief financial officer at Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln.

The Hampden resident is a former accountant and controller at Millinocket Regional Hospital.

She succeeds David Shannon, who became PVH’s chief executive officer in September. She said she hopes to help PVH complete its ambitious renovations plan and improve the hospital’s standing within the community.

Rush is a graduate of Salem State College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a concentration in accounting, as well as a minor in biology.

She worked for four years as a staff accountant at Vesey, Grandmaison and Tripoli in Danvers, Mass., before moving into the health care financial management field at Millinocket Regional Hospital.

In 2004, she became the regional financial analyst at Quorum Health Resources’ Bangor office, working with hospitals in New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

She joins a hospital that has been growing rapidly.

An expansion doubling the size of PVH’s surgical suites was finished last month, while renovated waiting rooms, labor and delivery suites, switchboard and patient registration and laboratory workroom areas have been completed or are being planned. The total price tag is almost $5 million.

A 25-bed hospital, PVH is the only provider of emergency medical services for an area that includes Burlington, Carroll Plantation, Chester, Enfield, Howland, Lakeville, Lee, Lincoln, Lowell, Mattawamkeag, Maxfield, Passadumkeag, Seboeis Plantation, Springfield and Winn.