HEALTH PAGES First National Makes Gift to Support Health Center F irst National Bank has made a gift of $50,000 to the Pen Bay Waldo Healthcare Foundation in support of the 42,000-square-foot Health Center under construction at Pen Bay Medical Center. To show its appreciation, the hospital has invited First National to name the pediatric therapy room in the new building. “Access to quality health care is important to us both as a bank and as residents of the communities we serve,” said First National Bank President and CEO, Tony C. McKim. “The new Health Center will be a great addition to the Pen Bay campus and we are pleased to support PBMC.” The Health Center, to be ready to receive patients by the end of 2020, is designed to make it easier for physicians and other providers to collaborate and connect patients with the wellness, prevention and specialty services they need. Headquartered in Damariscotta, First National was established in 1864 and now has 16 branches from Wiscasset to Calais and one inland branch in Bangor.
First National Bank President and CEO Tony C. McKim.
Provider Profile
Lisa Sherwood, MD
F
Internal medicine
or Lisa Sherwood, He encouraged me, and MD, joining Pen Bay I attended Penn State Medical Center as College of Medicine, did an internist represents my residency in internal a homecoming of sorts. medicine and stayed Her great-grandparents on there for 15 years lived in Machias and before joining PBMC. she visited frequently At Penn State, I served as a kid. Moreover, her as course director for parents now live in South first- and second-year Thomaston. The move also medical students. I loved represents a professional teaching them how to homecoming. After 15 be a physician who is years of teaching medical empathetic and knows how students at the Penn State to listen. Milton S. Hershey Medical Lisa Sherwood, MD How do you bring empathy Center in State College, and listening into your own exam room? Penn., Dr. Sherwood’s move to PBMC is I shared with my students studies that a return to the very reason she became a doctor – to focus on patients. Dr. Sherwood show a doctor usually interrupts a patient within eight seconds of the patient talking. is accepting new patients. To make an I get it. Doctors are on a schedule and appointment, please call her office at Pen they want to keep things moving. But, if Bay Internal Medicine at 301-5800. you just take the time to listen, you can ### often get most of the information you need What inspired a life in medicine? without asking a question or interrupting a Out of high school, I earned bachelor’s patient. I pride myself on getting to know degree in physical therapy and worked as my patients really well. Over the years, a physical therapist for 10 years. I really I’ve gotten so many nice emails from my enjoyed that, but I was very limited with patients thanking me for taking the time to how much care I could provide the people know them and remembering little things I was working with. I was fortunate that my about who they are as a person. husband had gone back to physical therapy school in his 30’s and so he understood Are you a natural listener? what it was to want to pursue a dream. I’m not a natural listener. It’s a skill
I’ve had to develop. I learned from some really powerful teachers who had great relationships with their patients, and I thought to myself, ‘That’s the type of relationship I want to have with my patients.’ What’s life like outside of the hospital? I really like to be outdoors. I like to garden. We hike and bike and camp. I have two cats who are my babies now that my son is out of the house. And I love to read. Have you ever been to Lobster Lane books? In South Thomaston there’s this little shack that’s open on Saturdays and Sundays. I usually go there and stock up on books to read over the next six months. So why the move to Maine? My parents live in South Thomaston. Being closer to them and still able to practice medicine is important. Maine has always had a special place in my heart because of my great-grandparents being from Machias. As a kid, I came to Maine every summer to the Downeast Lakes Region around Grand Lake Stream and Big Lake. I wanted to share those type of memories with my own son. Of course, in coming to Maine, I won’t be teaching medical students, which I loved, but that’s OK. The more I got involved in educating students, the further I got from patient care and, for me, patient care is why I got into medicine in the first place.
PBMC, WCGH Concussion Teams See Back-to-School Spike
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he start of school typically leads to a spike to the optometrist,” Grant said. “If vision Young patients are treated by Pediatric Physical Therapy/Occupational Therapy. in teenage patients referred for concussion is the only problem, that may be the best At WCGH, concussion patients are treated treatment. It is probably not for the reason course of action. However, when a parent by the Orthopedic and Sports Physical you think. sees a combination of two or more of these Therapy department. Yes, the hard knocks of football season are symptoms, and especially if they know their “During the first appointment, we have the underway. Soccer players are heading the ball child had an accident recently or over the patient tell the story of their injury and how and sometimes colliding midfield. Certainly, summer, they might want to bring them to their recovery has gone so far,” said school sports can result in the kind of Grant. “Then we do an assessment.” injuries that produce a concussion. But The concussion team then collaborates the spike in concussion referrals to Pen to develop a treatment plan. Bay Medical Center (PBMC) and Waldo We don’t just treat the concussion. We And it cannot be rushed, Grant said. County General Hospital (WCGH) each “A concussion is a traumatic brain school year is more the result of injuries get the student back in the classroom injury that changes the way the brain incurred during summer break. The ready to learn. functions,” Grant said. “Sometimes reason: Concussions are a brain injury, — Moriah Grant this means we help the patient relearn and often the symptoms do not become WCGH Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy how their brain used to do things. evident until the returning students reSometimes it means learning an entirely engage their brains in the classroom. new way of getting the same thing “During the summer, when a child done.” with a concussion can sleep-in and Through it all, Grant said, the maybe they’re not reading and writing focus remains on the student. “We don’t just as much, they might feel fine,” said Moriah their primary care provider.” treat the concussion,” she said. “We get the Grant, OTD, who leads the concussion team in Research shows that 20 percent of all student back in the classroom ready to learn.” the Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy children in the U.S. will suffer a concussion department at WCGH. “But as they are before reaching adulthood. The Centers for * * * presented with the challenges of school, they Disease Control and Prevention outlines Pen Bay Physical and Occupational Therapy is might develop headaches, vision problems information parents should know about located in the Physicians Building, 4 Glen Cove Drive, and fatigue. Other symptoms include concussions on its website at www.cdc.gov/ Suite 109, Rockport, and can be reached at increased anger or depression, nausea, headsup/schools/parents. 301-5500. PBMC Pediatric Physical Therapy/ clumsiness, balance problems, double vision, Once a child is diagnosed with a Occupational Therapy is located at 6 Madelyn Lane, sluggishness and a general state of confusion. concussion, the concussion treatment Rockport and can be reached at 301-6380. “The difficulty is that when a child specialists at PBMC and WCGH can help. WCGH Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy complains about a vision problem, it’s At PBMC, adult patients are cared for by is located at 163 Northport Ave., Belfast. It can be easy to assume that the answer is a visit Pen Bay Physical and Occupational Therapy. reached at 505-4584.
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