Coastal Healthcare Connect - November, PBMC & WCGH

Coastal Healthcare Connect

Vol. 02 No. 6 | November 2020

New Health Center Prepares For First Patients

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en Bay Medical Center (PBMC) recently received its certificate of occupancy for the new Health Center on its Rockport campus, and it has begun furnishing the facility in anticipation of welcoming the first patients in December.

To make it easier for patients to enter campus, the project includes a new left-hand turn signal for drivers traveling south on Rt. 1. The left-hand turn signal is necessary because patient traffic entering the PBMC campus will increase with the opening of the Health Center, which will house a number of practices that currently are off campus.

When the 42,000-squarefoot building opens, it will house PBMC’s primary care practices, including Internal and Family Medicine, Pediatrics and Pediatric Physical and Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech Pathology, and the Ear, Nose and Throat practice.

It also will provide space where specialists from the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center can meet with patients in Rockport, reducing the need for children with special health needs to travel to Portland.

The PBMC Health Center is being funded solely through philanthropic support, including a $2 million gift from MaineHealth and a gift of $500,000 from the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.

At present, there is just under $1

Above, a view of the registration area during the last stages of construction of the new Health Center on the campus of Pen Bay Medical Center (PBMC). Below, a sign that work was wrapping up. With construction now complete, PBMC has begun furnishing the space in preparation of welcoming the first patients into the facility in December.

million to go to reach our $16.4 million goal! We are so grateful to the volunteers and generous lead donors who have brought us to this point.

Now we need everyone’s help to put us over the top. To learn more about the Health Center or the campaign, please visit www.penbaywaldofoundation.org.

Thank you for your continued support of our vision of making our communities the healthiest in America.

If you don’t currently receive the newsletter electronically but would like to or Alliance. if you currently Coastal Healthcare receive our newsletter electronically andhealth would like Dedicated to improving the to stop receiving the printed version, please visit this and quality of life for the people page and provide the information requested. of MidCoast Midcoast Maine. http://bit.ly/CHAnewsletter

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Provider Profile

Alison Engel, CNM Midwife

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n some ways, the midwifery career of Alison Engel, CNM, started when she was 5 years old.

“I grew up in a family of women who were nurturers,” Engel says. “My mom was a cook and a caregiver, and my grandmother was a labor and delivery nurse. So it’s no surprise that I’ve been putting bandages and fake poultices on my friend’s booboos since kindergarten.

“It was in my nature to be in health care,” Engel says.

Engel joined Pen Bay Women’s Health earlier this year as one of five certified nurse midwives providing a full range of care for women of all ages, including birth control, annual checkups, pap tests, breast exams, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, preconception care, abnormal bleeding evaluation and menopausal care.

“Alison is an experienced, thoughtful and compassionate caregiver, and we are fortunate to have her on our care team,” said Jennifer McKenna, MD, director of women’s health for PBMC and WCGH. To schedule an appointment with Engel, please call 301-8900. Pen Bay Women’s Health is located on the campus of Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport. To learn more about how Engel’s family shaped her choice to become a midwife, read on. #

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in line with who I am and the holistic care I want to provide. So I went to nursing school. After working for a couple of years as a nurse, I went to midwifery school. I was ultimately guided by the experience with my sister and her midwife to choose this career path.

Do you see midwifery in terms of pregnancy only, or does midwifery address a larger range of women’s health issues?

Popular culture associates midwives with pregnancy and birth, but historically midwives provided health care for the whole family. That piece of our profession got lost over the years, and we were put into the niche of providing just obstetric care. But we provide a full range of health care to women, from birth through menopause and beyond.

Some of my favorite people to work with are young teens. I find great satisfaction helping them get a good start in their lives by teaching them how to respect their bodies and treat them well. Menopause is another transitional time in life, with unique and amazing opportunities to learn about and have confidence in our bodies.

When a patient comes to see you for the first time, what can they expect?

First and foremost, they can expect to come into a safe space for their care. By safe, I mean two things. While we have always offered a clean space for patient care, we have taken extra precautions due to COVID-19.

Women coming to my office should be confident that they are coming to a place that puts their safety first.

I also mean safe in the sense that our care is nonjudgmental and comes from a place of compassion and empathy. Women can expect an open conversation. I’ll start by asking them what’s on their mind and what I can do to help. I encourage women to participate in the decision-making process about their health. We, as midwives, work hard to make women feel comfortable talking about their health in ways that otherwise might be uncomfortable. Listening to women is the center of what we do.

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Why did you become a midwife?

I was born with the assistance of a midwife, as was my middle sister, and we grew up hearing our birth stories from my mom. This definitely influenced my decision to become a midwife. When I was 15 years old, my oldest sister had a baby with the assistance of a midwife. I was present for the birth, and it left a big impression on me. I really admired the way the midwife was so calm and quiet but also very involved and present. She wasn’t not there. She wasn’t not doing her job. She just wasn’t intervening and getting in the way of the process. She was there to support my sister in having her baby.

Does listening come to you naturally or is it a skill you had to develop as a midwife?

A little bit of both. I’m not the world’s chattiest person, so I enjoy listening to people and hearing their stories.

There was a time I thought about medical school, but I decided that the principles of midwifery were more

See PROVIDER, page 4 2

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Dental Care Practice Focuses On Underserved Residents

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hen it comes to dental care, you might not know 2,300 patients a year. The difference is in the nature what you have lost until you get it back. Just ask of the visits.

Belfast resident John Pangiochi.

“Our patients don’t have insurance and haven’t been Pangiochi, 64, had neglected his teeth for so able to afford to see a dentist regularly, so they’re often long that it became too painful to chew the kind of coming to us with dental needs that have accumulated nutritious food that many people take for granted, like for years,” Hood said. “Almost all of them need nuts, apples and raw carrots. And with every one of restoration work, and that requires more time and more Pangiochi’s upper teeth chipped or broken or black with office visits.” rot, he was too embarrassed to smile.

Whereas a dentist in private practice might see All that changed when Pangiocho sought help from many of their patients just once a year for their annual the Waldo County Dental Care, a non-profit agency checkup, the dentist at the clinic typically sees every that provides free and reduced-price dental work to patient six times or more before restoration work is hundreds of low-income, uninsured adults and children complete. covered by MaineCare in Waldo County every year.

For his part, Pangiochi only had his upper teeth “Dental decay happens over such a long period of extracted. time that it just becomes “The dentist was a part of your existence,” great,” Pangiochi said.

“I started eating better because I Pangiochi says. “When “I was there for an hour you get back to dental and 10 minutes, and he could eat things that were healthy for health, your life changes. pulled 14 teeth.” Six You feel better, you eat months later, when his me without pain.” better and you smile mouth was fully healed again.”

— John Pangiochi, a patient of the clinic from the extractions, Now in its sixth year, at Waldo County Dental Care Pangiochi went back to Waldo County Dental Care the clinic to be fit for has helped more than dentures.

3,000 community members who are otherwise unable “Whoa, what a difference,” Pangiochi said. “I could to afford a dentist. To qualify, patients must reside in chew things like nuts, fruits and ears of corn, things I Waldo County and meet income requirements based on avoided before and didn’t even realize I was avoiding the number of people living in the household. There is because of the pain. This is freedom. I have my life a $40 co-pay for services. back.

The need is so great that Waldo County Dental Care “I never considered that my dental health was finds itself maintaining a waiting list that grew when affecting the rest of my body,” Pangiochi said. “I the clinic was forced to suspend office visits during started eating better because I could eat things that the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. “But we were healthy for me without pain. My stomach issues are working through the backlog, and I encourage those went away and my complexion improved.” who need our services to call for an appointment,” says The first food Pangiochi ate after he was fitted with Amanda Hood, manager of the clinic. his dentures? “Nuts,” he said. “I love walnuts and “We are committed to the wellness of the entire cashews.” community,” Hood says.

Pangiochi said he initially resisted going to Waldo Waldo County Dental Care was founded in 2013.

County Dental Care out of pride. He saw the service Funding for the clinic comes from grants, including as a handout and did not want to accept what he recent grants from United Midcoast Charities and viewed as charity. His thinking changed with the nonNortheast Delta Dental Foundation. In addition, Waldo judgmental care he received at the clinic.

County General Hospital (WCGH) also provides funding “I want people to know that using health care and space for the clinic at 125 Northport Ave. on the you didn’t pay for is not a statement about you as WCGH campus in Belfast. a person,” Pangiochi said. “Paying isn’t what gives When fully staffed, the clinic employs one dentist, it value. Receiving it is what gives it value. This is two dental assistants, a dental hygienist and a medical the community taking care of people. These services receptionist and cares for more than 500 patients a are there because it makes people’s lives better and year. That number may seem small. After all, a dentist gets them back into the community as productive in private practice typically sees between 1,600 and members.”

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Provider Profile: Alison Engel Continued from Page 2

I feel privileged to be let into a patient’s life, to hear a person’s experiences. As a midwife, there are certain kinds of listening that you do where you pick up on little nuances of what somebody is saying. Those nuances can give me insight into their health and tell me how I can help them.

Outside of the hospital, what are your passions?

I am a total midwife cliché. I love to knit and garden and do yoga and bake, all those crunchy things that you would imagine a midwife likes to do. I’m a total nester.

I’m a homebody, but also we really enjoy the outdoors.

We have a dog and two kids, and our favorite thing to do on the weekends is throw the baby in the backpack and hike with the dog and the 7-year-old. * * * The midwives at Pen Bay Medical Center are accepting new patients. To make an appointment with a midwife at Pen Bay Women’s Health, call at 301-8900. The center is located at 3 Glen Cove Dr., Suite 1, Rockport.

To make an appointment with a midwife at WCGH, call Waldo County Medical Partners Women’s Health at 505-4332. The practice is located at 16 Fahy St., Belfast.

Why practice midwifery in Maine?

The town I grew up in was very small and probably had a lot more cows than people. And so I never felt quite at home in cities and suburban spaces. I wanted to settle and raise a family in a more rural setting. And my parents and my sister live in Freeport now, so I wanted to be closer to them. My dad’s family for generations has been coming to Maine in the summer. Maine was definitely a place that feels like home and offers more of the lifestyle that I want for my kids.

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Address service requested Coastal Healthcare Alliance 118 Northport Ave | P.O. Box 287 | Belfast, Maine 04915