Career Pulse – Dec 16

Morse Tackles New Role with Cooley Dickinson
NORTHAMPTON — Cooley Dickinson Hospital announced the appointment of Dr. Peter Morse, Emergency Services physician, to the position of affiliate hospital medical director for Emergency Medicine Services.
Morse earned his medical degree from UMass Medical School in Worcester and completed an emergency services internship and residency at the University of Virginia Department of Emergency Medicine. Morse joined Cooley Dickinson Hospital as an Emergency Department physician in 2013.
In this new position, which is above and beyond his role as an Emergency Department physician, Morse will provide oversight and ensure clinical competency and continuing education for all emergency medical services providers who are affiliated with Cooley Dickinson Hospital; provide oversight, education, and quality assurance to first-responder agencies and emergency dispatch communication facilities; work closely with Cooley Dickinson staff, outside agencies, and local communities; and promote access to quality emergency pre-hospital care.
“As a former EMT, Dr. Morse has a unique perspective in overseeing pre-hospital care and ensuring the best from our pre-hospital partners,” said Dr. Khama Ennis, chief of Emergency Services at Cooley Dickinson and a fellow emergency-services physician.
Morse takes over for Dr. R.F. Conway, who is stepping down from the affiliate hospital medical director post, a position he defined, fostered, and held for 34 years. During this time, Conway trained thousands of emergency medical technicians and paramedics and developed emergency-response protocols that are used by area ambulance services to triage patients prior to their arrival in area emergency departments.
Specifically, Conway introduced thousands of EMTs and first responders to the use of an automated external defibrillator. Under his leadership, many local ambulance services in Hampshire and Franklin counties were able to become certified at the paramedic level.
“It has been my great honor to serve the men and women in Emergency Services for the past 34 years, and I am confident that Dr. Morse will continue the great traditions we started,” Conway said.
Conway is credited with organizing the first-of-its-kind critical response intervention team, which provided paramedic-level care to the city of Northampton and surrounding towns and cities. In this model, patients being transported by EMTs are met by paramedics in the field to care for patients prior to arriving at the Emergency Department. Conway also served as medical director of the area emergency dispatch centers and assisted in approving the dispatch centers’ universal protocols.
Conway continues in his role as president of the Cooley Dickinson medical staff and medical director of urgent-care centers in Amherst, Greenfield, and Northampton, including the new urgent-care clinic based at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

River Valley Counseling Center Welcomes Campbell
HOLYOKE — Rosemarie Ansel, executive director of River Valley Counseling Center (RVCC), announced the appointment of Dr. Elaine Campbell as senior director of Outpatient Services and clinical director of RVCC.
Campbell, a licensed clinical psychologist in Massachusetts, brings more than 25 years of diverse clinical, administrative, and supervisory experience — in public health, private practice, and within schools — to her position at RVCC. Her interests include developing innovative and strength-based treatment models for children and their families who have experienced traumatic events.
“Dr. Campbell brings an impressive track record of high-quality patient care that will raise River Valley Counseling Center’s ability to treat clients with respect and compassion,” said Ansel.
In her new position, Campbell is overseeing all outpatient services provided by RVCC and looks forward to promoting the organization’s positive image of providing high-quality of behavioral-health services to the immediate community. She believes in a model of outpatient care that provides “intermittent therapy throughout the lifespan,” meaning RVCC can provide behavioral and mental health treatment and support to people from when they are children through their elder years, no matter what challenges they face in their daily lives.

Steiner Tapped to Lead Leavitt Family Jewish Home
LONGMEADOW — Andrew Steiner has been named executive director of JGS Lifecare’s Leavitt Family Jewish Home (JNH). He brings more than 20 years of diverse experience improving the quality of care and quality of life of seniors. He will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the Joint Commission-accredited, 200-bed, long-term-care nursing home located in Longmeadow.
Before joining JGS Lifecare, Steiner served as president of Sycamore Health Care Consultants, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in senior housing and health care, policy and compliance, reimbursement programming, healthcare technology integration, operations and turnaround management, marketing, and real-estate investment.
In addition, Steiner has served as the executive director of the 205-bed Abbott Terrace Health Center in Waterbury, Conn. In this role, he implemented and managed programs for residents with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, pulmonary rehabilitation, and cardiac care management. He also developed and implemented partnerships with regional hospital networks and delivered significant improvements in patient care and customer-service outcomes.
Prior to this, Steiner served as director of Strategic Planning for National Health Care Associates in Wethersfield, Conn., coordinating business planning and strategies for more than 40 skilled-nursing facilities in six states with more than 4,000 beds under management.
“Andrew clearly brings to JNH a wealth of administrative experience in clinical, long-term, and sub-acute settings, as well as a diverse programming background,” said Martin Baicker, president and CEO of JGS. “His wide-ranging skills and expertise will be a critical asset to JNH as we introduce the patient-centered ‘green house’ model of care in our nursing home over the next few years. We feel confident that, under his leadership, this new range of service will continue to grow our legacy of more than a century of proud caretaking, and fulfill our mission to provide quality eldercare services to the people of our community.”
Steiner teaches health systems management at the University of Connecticut School of Business. He is also active on many local boards and organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford and Hartford Hospital, and has served the Florida Health Care Assoc., the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, and Dominican University.
Steiner holds a master of public health degree in community health sciences and gerontology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration, emphasis in marketing, from the Kogod School of Business Administration, American University, Washington, D.C. He is licensed as a nursing-home administrator in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

AdCare Hospital Welcomes Chiecko
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Mary Chiecko has joined AdCare Hospital as Community Services representative for Western Mass.
Chiecko, who has more than seven years of marketing experience, comes to AdCare from Burlington Labs Toxicology Services, where she worked with treatment providers, residential and outpatient treatment centers, and sober-living facilities. She studied marketing and communications at American International College in Springfield.
AdCare provides a full continuum of alcohol and drug treatment, from hospital-level care in Worcester to inpatient residential treatment in North Kingstown, R.I. and outpatient services at offices located throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Mirot Joins Team at Baystate Wing
PALMER — Baystate Wing Hospital announced that Dr. Adam Mirot has joined its medical staff and will serve as an adult and geriatric psychiatrist at Baystate Wing Hospital and the Griswold Behavioral Health Center.
Mirot brings more than 20 years of practice in psychiatry to Baystate Wing Hospital. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed a fellowship in consultation-liaison at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. He has served as a staff psychiatrist in the Consultation Service at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and assistant professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine.
“For individuals with mental-health problems who require outpatient care or hospitalization, we provide safe, nurturing, and therapeutic environments,” said Dr. David Maguire, chief medical officer for the Eastern Region, which includes Baystate Mary Lane Outpatient Center and Baystate Wing Hospital. “We are delighted to have Dr. Mirot join our team.”
Baystate Wing Hospital offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient behavioral-health and addiction treatment services through the Griswold Behavioral Health Center and the Center for Geriatric Psychiatry.
Mirot joins a practice that currently has three psychiatrists and four advanced practitioners. The team, which also includes licensed therapists, offers a broad range of services including individual, couples, family, and group therapy; psychiatric assessment and treatment for children, teens, adults, and elders; substance-abuse and addiction counseling; medication-management services; and support groups, including a driving-under-the-influence second-offenders program.

Smolenski Earns Unsung Hero Award
NORTHAMPTON — Ella Smolenski, a mental-health advocate, support-group facilitator, and member of Cooley Dickinson Health Care’s (CDHC) Patient Family Advisory Council, received the Unsung Hero award from the Massachusetts chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI Mass) at its annual convention on Oct. 29.
Smolenski said she accepted the award in honor of all families who are unsung heroes in the area of mental health, adding that she’s proud to “embrace the mission of the National Alliance on Mental Illness because I believe that self-stigma and stigma in general are obstacles to obtaining treatment for very treatable mental-health disorders and funding.”
Identified by her nominators and NAMI Mass as “one of those people who quietly and steadily gets things done,” Smolenski has taught Family-to-Family, a support group for families dealing with mental-health issues, for three years after participating in the class five years ago. She has been working with Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s inpatient behavioral-health staff to co-facilitate the program and has organized community mental-health fairs.
Because of her commitment and passion for those living with a mental-health diagnosis and their families, Smolenski was recruited to join Cooley Dickinson’s Patient and Family Advisory Council in 2014. In that role, she brings a perspective about patients with mental illness that would otherwise not be at the table. Through its relationship with Smolenski, Cooley Dickinson has worked more closely with the Western Mass. chapter of NAMI, and CDHC President and CEO Joanne Marqusee was among the first in Western Mass. to sign the CEOs Against Stigma pledge.

SC’s Thompson Honored by Chinese Sports Bureau
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College Director of Strength and Conditioning Brian Thompson recently received an official appointment as an expert technical consultant to the Chinese National Fitness Trainers Assoc. by the Chinese Sports Bureau. Thompson is the only non-Chinese citizen ever to receive this status.
“It’s a huge honor to receive this appointment, and it is the culmination of many years of collaboration between Springfield College and the Chinese Sports Bureau,” said Thompson, who has given more than 50 international presentations. “Over the years, Springfield College has established very strong relationships in China.”
Throughout his tenure, Thompson has made multiple visits to China to help educate coaches on proper strength and conditioning programming and methods, and to assist in the growth of strength and conditioning through coaching development.
During the summer of 2015, Thompson conducted a five-day workshop titled “Keys to Increasing Athletic Performance” at the Shandong Training Center in Jinan, China. During Thompson’s visit, he worked with 25 former Chinese national champion athletes who are making the transition into coaching at the national level.
“The strength and conditioning field is a relatively new field to coaches and athletes in China,” said Thompson. “On many occasions, it’s the coaches of the teams who are helping with strength training in China. Where we have been able to help is providing these individuals with proper training and methods to assist their athletes.”
Along with the five-day workshop, Thompson has also recently presented at the Beijing Sport University International Training Summit, focusing on developing strength, power, and speed methods for basketball athletes. He also recently hosted a seminar on “Developing a Strength and Conditioning Philosophy” to coaches and athletes from the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan.
On top of his strength and conditioning duties at Springfield College, Thompson is a professor of Exercise Science and the graduate coordinator for the strength and conditioning program. He began working in strength and conditioning in 1987 and has trained athletes at the elementary-school, middle-school, high-school, collegiate, professional, Paralympic, and Olympic levels. He has presented and conducted strength- and conditioning-related workshops in Australia, China, Mexico, Taiwan, and throughout the U.S.

Eastwood Represents Shriners Hospital at PGA Tour
SPRINGFIELD — Christopher Eastwood, a junior at UMass Amherst, was chosen to represent Shriners Hospitals for Children – Springfield as a patient ambassador at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which is part of the PGA Tour, in Las Vegas from Oct. 31 through Nov. 6.
Eastwood was chosen as one of 22 patient ambassadors throughout the country to represent the hospital network at the tournament, where he will serve as a standard bearer on the weekend, carrying the scores of a group of professional golfers as they compete in the tournament.
As part of his participation in the tournament, Eastwood’s story and photo will appear in the tournament program, and his information will be shared with the Golf Channel, which will televise the tournament nationally. The broadcast reaches more than 700 million homes across 240 countries worldwide.
Eastwood’s journey with the hospital began with a referral from his pediatrician for a condition known as pectus excavatum, or a sunken chest, a birth defect that causes the sternum to bow inward, compressing the heart and the lungs. During the evaluation at the hospital, it was determined that he needed surgery. He was scheduled to have a Nuss procedure, which meant having a metal rod put in his chest to help correct the deformity.
“The purpose of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open is to not only bring PGA Tour golf to Las Vegas, but, more importantly, to bring awareness to the great work of Shriners Hospitals for Children and the work those hospitals do to help transform the lives of children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, cleft lip and palate, and spinal-cord injuries,” said Adam Sperling, executive director of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. “We thought that bringing more of the hospital’s patients to the tournament and giving them an opportunity to experience some of the best golfers in the world would be a great way to increase the involvement of the hospitals and the patients in this event.”

Healthcare IT Consultancy Adds Three Team Members
HOLYOKE — Continuing its double-digit growth in the healthcare IT industry, VertitechIT has announced that it has added three new members to its team. David Rooks, Tracy Reisbig, and Lovin Kuriakose have joined the firm as the Holyoke-based consultancy continues to expand operations throughout the East Coast and across the country.
Rooks joins the VertitechIT project management office, bringing with him nearly a decade of experience in telecommunications, social-media management, and vendor coordination. Originally from Washington D.C., Rooks moved to Western Mass. after attending UMass Amherst.
Reisbig has been appointed executive assistant to the leadership team at the company, where she will provide senior-level administrative support. She has served in a similar capacity for Ace Hardware, Berkshire Development, and the food-service division of Friendly’s Ice Cream over the last 20 years.
A 14-year healthcare IT veteran, Kuriakose joins VertitechIT after spending the past six years as an analyst for Baystate Health Lab. With expertise in system architecture and integration solutions, Lovin will continue to focus on the company’s Baystate Health account, including an overhaul of lab outreach system architecture and operations, a new donor system for the Baystate Blood Bank, and integration of Baystate Wing Hospital into the health system.
VertitechIT currently maintains senior-level strategic consulting relationships with health systems throughout New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Midwestern U.S.