CAREER PULSE – April 2018
Cooley Dickinson Appoints Belmont to Leadership Team
NORTHAMPTON — Cooley Dickinson Health Care President and CEO Joanne Marqusee announced the appointment of Dr. Angela Belmont as vice president, Patient Care Services and chief Nursing officer (CNO).
“In her new role, Angela provides leadership, oversight, and support of our leaders in the Patient Care Services division at Cooley Dickinson Health Care,” Marqusee said. “Angela is responsible for advancing our dyad program of nursing and physician collaboration, and partners with our Chief Medical Officer Dr. Estevan Garcia to focus on quality and patient safety. In this regard, Angela will help us to drive improvements in patient satisfaction and nursing practice at Cooley Dickinson.”
A successful nurse administrator with more than 30 years of experience, Belmont has held progressively responsible leadership positions in acute-care hospitals throughout her career, including more than 20 years with Faxton-St. Luke’s Hospital, a 370-bed acute-care hospital in Utica, N.Y.
Prior to joining Cooley Dickinson, Belmont was assistant vice president of Nursing for Mohawk Valley Health System, a community healthcare system with more than 4,000 employees that serves patients throughout three counties in upstate New York. In this role, she led efforts to significantly improve patient-care services and outcomes across the two hospital campuses.
Belmont earned both her bachelor’s degree in Nursing and master’s degree in nursing administration at the State University of New York, and her doctorate in nursing practice in system leadership from Rush University in Chicago.
Sigal Joins Medical Staff at BMC Rheumatology Services
PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Health Systems announced the appointment of Dr. Leonard Sigal, a board-certified and fellowship-trained rheumatologist, to the medical staff of Berkshire Medical Center and the physician staff of Rheumatology Professional Services of BMC. Sigal joins Dr. Lauren Dudley at Rheumatology Professional Services of BMC, and is taking new patients in need of rheumatology services in the community.
Sigal comes to the Berkshires from New Jersey, where he most recently served as chief, Division of Rheumatology for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, RW Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick. He was previously on the faculty of the State University of New York Upstate Medical College in Syracuse.
Sigal received his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, and was fellowship-trained in rheumatology and clinical immunology at Yale University School of Medicine.
River Valley Counseling Center Promotes Chunyk, Mignano
EASTHAMPTON — River Valley Counseling Center (RVCC) promoted Michael Chunyk to the position of site manager at its newest location at Liberty Commons on 2 Mechanic St. in Easthampton.
Chunyk obtained his master of social work degree from Springfield College School of Social Work. He has been practicing at RVCC for the last three years as a licensed therapist specializing in working with men who have experienced emotional trauma and addressing symptoms that arise from post-traumatic stress disorder, such as anger issues, depression, and relationship difficulties. He is also a 2018 recipient of the UMass Community Salute Plaque for his dedicated commitment and humanitarian spirit, which has made a positive impact in Western Mass. communities. As the former executive director of Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen and Pantry in Chicopee, he brings many years of organizational leadership to River Valley’s Easthampton team.
Alexa Mignano has also joined the RVCC team in Easthampton as coordinator of School-Based Mental Health Counseling and works as a child-focused therapist. She received her master’s degree from from Springfield College and has been working at RVCC as a therapist in the Holyoke Public Schools for more than seven years. She specializes in treating trauma, adjustment problems, anxiety, self-regulation difficulties, disruptive behavior, and other challenges. Her goal is to help children engage their mind and body throughout the therapeutic process as they work towards healing; this includes play therapy, movement-based interventions, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and parenting support. She also provides training and consultation to schools in implementing trauma-informed practices.
This past fall, RVCC partnered with Easthampton Public Schools to provide school-based therapy in all Easthampton public schools. The Easthampton office at Liberty Commons opened in early 2018 and is accepting new clients.
Springfield College Names Headley First Karpovich Chair for Wellness
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College has selected Professor Samuel Headley of the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation in the department of Exercise Science as its inaugural recipient of the Karpovich Chair for Wellness at Springfield College. This award honors and supports Headley’s record of scholarship and innovation in exercise science.
It is a competitive, three-year, honorary appointment that promotes interdisciplinary research across health-science fields through the testing of ideas and the creation of new initiatives and practices that have the potential to be brought to scale and lead to a sustainable avenue of scholarship that would be competitive for future external funding. The new chair will pursue collaborative and interdisciplinary scholarship in the area of wellness.
Graduates from the class of 1954 established an endowment in honor of their 50th reunion to recognize Peter Karpovich, a member of the Springfield College faculty from 1927 until 1969. He was a founder the American College of Sports Medicine and is widely considered the father of exercise physiology in the U.S., having published more than 130 journal articles in the field.
A professor of exercise physiology, Headley joined Springfield College in 1992 as an assistant professor, receiving promotion to associate professor in 1997 and to professor in 2003. He is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and a registered clinical exercise physiologist. He has served as a principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous grants and contracts, including a major award from the National Institutes of Health and, most recently, a contract with Relypsa Inc. to examine nutritional, behavioral, pharmaceutical, and counseling interventions with patients suffering from chronic kidney disease.
As the first Karpovich Chair awardee, Headley will lead a nationwide team of 12 scholars and researchers to delve into the potential interactions of prebiotic supplementation and moderate aerobic exercise training on critical health concerns of chronic kidney-disease patients, ranging from inflammatory responses that predispose kidney patients to premature death due to cardiovascular disease to psychological markers of health and well-being.
“Our group is excited for this opportunity to test our hypotheses because we believe our work has the potential to positively impact upon the lives of patients who have chronic kidney disease,” Headley explained. “The study that we have proposed is the result of the collaborative efforts of members of our research team.” The Karpovich chair comes with a commitment of $40,000 annually over three years to support the project.
O’Connell Care at Home Welcomes Tiffany
SOUTH DEERFIELD — O’Connell Care at Home, with offices in Holyoke, Springfield, and South Deerfield, announced the appointment of Katelyne Tiffany as office manager of its facility at 2 Park St. in South Deerfield.
“Katelyne’s experience, compassion, and true gift for working well with the elder population made her a perfect candidate for this new role,” said Fran O’Connell, who established the home-healthcare and staffing services agency in 1987.
Tiffany was an adult foster-care case manager with West Mass Elder Care for eight years before recently joining O’Connell Care at Home, where her role includes office and human-resources management for its Franklin County branch.
Austen Riggs Center’s Gerber Appointed to NAMI Mass Board
STOCKBRIDGE — The Austen Riggs Center announced that Dr. Andrew Gerber, medical director/CEO, has been appointed to the board of directors of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Massachusetts (NAMI Mass). This appointment reaffirms Gerber’s commitment to supporting community mental-health services in the state and builds on his efforts at the Austen Riggs Center to positively impact the serious mental-health issues society faces today.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve on the board of directors of NAMI Mass and hope that I can contribute in some small way to the excellent and important work that they do in the state of Massachusetts for individuals suffering with mental illness, and for the families, friends, and providers who support those individuals,” Gerber said.
The mission of NAMI Mass is “to improve the quality of life both for people with mental illnesses and for their families.” It accomplishes their mission by providing education, support, and advocacy to Massachusetts consumers and their families; improving the public’s awareness and understanding of mental illnesses; and advocating at all levels to ensure that all people affected by mental illnesses receive, in a timely fashion, the services they need and deserve.
Vettori Leaving Rockridge Retirement Community
HANOVER, N.H. — Beth Vettori has been named the new executive director at Kendal at Hanover. Vettori will join Kendal April 9 after serving as executive director of Rockridge Retirement Community in Northampton since 2007. Vettori was recently promoted to the role of senior executive director for Rockridge and Deaconess Abundant Life Communities.
“I have been extremely fortunate to have had the privilege of living and working in Western Massachusetts for almost all of my life,” said Vettori. “This was a very difficult decision both professionally and personally, but Rockridge and Deaconess Abundant Life have so many talented up-and-coming leaders that I know they will continue to succeed. It is going to be very hard for me to leave Rockridge and for my family to move away from the area. We are going to do our best to stay connected to everyone, with Hanover being just a quick trip up I-91.”
As executive director at Rockridge, Vettori provided focused leadership to a staff of more than 90 employees and worked closely with more than 140 residents in independent living, assisted living, memory-support assisted living, and residential care. She fostered a culture of engagement, growth, and vision while overseeing the full operations of the community. Vettori was critical in a multi-million-dollar expansion from 2015 to 2017 at Rockridge, where she conducted fund-raising initiatives and established goals and operational improvements consistent with current and future community objectives related to its strategic plan.
Eadie Steps in as President, CEO of Trinity Health Of New England
HARTFORD, Conn. — Dr. Reginald Eadie has officially taken the reins as president and CEO of Trinity Health Of New England. Named to the position in January, Eadie succeeds Roger Spoelman, who has been serving in an interim capacity since the prior president and CEO, Christopher Dadlez, stepped down at the end of 2017.
Board-certified in emergency medicine, Eadie has 20 years of healthcare experience that includes numerous leadership roles such as CEO, chief operating officer, and chief medical officer. He most recently served as senior vice president and regional chief operating officer at Detroit Medical Center (DMC), a $2 billion regional academic healthcare system comprised of seven hospitals and two Michigan universities. Prior to this position, he served as president and CEO for three hospitals within the DMC system and as chief medical officer for DMC’s Harper University and Hutzel Women’s Hospitals, where he is credited with achieving full integration of the three hospitals, implementing a LEAN management system, and increasing the hospital market share through improvements in physician satisfaction.