Career Pulse – Nov 2015

Mazza, Wright
Honored by HMC

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) honored surgeon Dr. Samuel Mazza and civic leader Angela Wright with Lifetime Achievement Awards for their outstanding dedication and hard work on behalf of Holyoke Medical Center and the Holyoke community. They were recognized at the recent ACE Awards event in support of HMC at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

“Dr. Mazza and Angela Wright are each highly deserving of this recognition. We are a far better healthcare provider as a result of their many valuable contributions,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems Inc. “The ACE Awards are an important way we highlight the work of our dedicated colleagues who deliver quality healthcare each and every day.”

Mazza and Wright have demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing HMC’s mission through their work in community-based healthcare and philanthropy, respectively.

Mazza is a general surgeon with an impressive record in the healthcare community. A U.S. Army Major, he received a Bronze Star for his service as general surgeon with the 25th Infantry during the Vietnam War. His numerous appointments include service as HMC’s chairman of the Department of Surgery, president of its medical staff, as well as a member of the board of directors. He served as a surgical consultant at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke and the Federal Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds.

Wright served on the governing boards for Holyoke Medical Center and its parent corporation for 37 years. Her accomplishments include co-chair of HMC’s successful 2002 Yours for Life capital campaign with her husband, Joseph. This $4 million campaign improved patient care at Holyoke Medical Center with renovations and construction of its cperating and endoscopy rooms, patient registration space, and the front lobby. Wright was also instrumental in the 1976 “Follies” fund-raiser, which led to the purchase of five new cardiac monitors for the Intensive Care Unit.

Watson Joins BFMC’s
Mental Health Unit

GREENFIELD — Donald Watson recently joined Baystate Franklin Medical Center as the new nurse manager for the Mental Health Unit (MHU).

Before entering the medical field, Watson worked for several years as the director of manufacturing for Sci-Tech Plastics in West Hatfield. A career change prompted him to consider medicine, and he entered Springfield Technical Community College’s Nursing program. While in nursing school, Watson interned at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield and continued as a registered nurse in many departments, including the intensive care unit, maternity, orthopedics, and telemetry. He later joined the Emergency Medicine team at Cooley Dickinson hospital in Northampton.

In 2013, Watson joined Baystate Health as the administrative nursing supervisor at Baystate Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer. As a supervisor, he guided a team of health professionals to ensure quality patient care. “I’ve learned from years of medical experience in a hospital setting to concentrate on what you have control over — my job and the patients I care for,” he said. “At the end of the day, providing the best possible care for patients is what matters most.”

A locked, 22-bed unit, the Mental Health Unit at Baystate Franklin serves a patient population of acute adolescent and adult psychiatric patients. As MHU nurse manager, Watson will provide clinical leadership and oversee daily patient care. He will collaborate with a multi-disciplinary team of professionals from the Emergency Department and Pharmacy, creating a cohesive work environment for employees and smooth transitions for patients. Additionally, he will cultivate and lead professional development trainings for seasoned staff members.

Watson looks forward to continuing in a clinical leadership role and sharing his passion for the medical field with employees, noting that, “since nursing has been my second career, I went in with the appreciation that, no matter how bad a day may be at work, I have tried to do good for someone, to make a patient’s day better.”

Baystate Wing Hospital
Welcomes Lenzy

PALMER — Baystate Wing Hospital announced that Dr. Yolanda Lenzy, a board-certified dermatologist and medical director of Lenzy Dermatology and Hair Loss Center, has joined the medical staff and is now providing dermatology services once weekly at Palmer Medical Center, located at 40 Wright St. in Palmer.

Lenzy received her medical degree from the University of Maryland, her master’s degree in public health from Harvard University, and her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and health promotion from American University, where she graduated with top honors. In 2010, she was the first African-American physician to complete the Boston University/Tufts University Combined Dermatology Residency Program.

Prior to college, Lenzy trained in cosmetology and has been a licensed cosmetologist for 20 years. Her background as a hair stylist fueled her passion to focus her career on optimizing care for the hair and scalp from a medical perspective. She has participated in numerous studies on psoriasis, photo-aging, and various causes of hair loss, including partnering with local hair salons to educate stylists on ways to help prevent styling-induced hair loss.

Lenzy is an associate clinical professor at UConn Health Sciences Center. She has authored numerous publications for academic journals, book chapters, and nationally distributed patient-education materials. She has presented her research to the World Congress of Dermatology in Cairns, Australia and Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as to the National Medical Assoc. and the Skin of Color Society.

For more information or to make an appointment with Lenzy, who will be seeing patients on Mondays at Palmer Medical Center, call (413) 284-5400.

Three Appointed to Health Information and
Analysis Oversight Council

BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker announced three appointments to the Health Information and Analysis Oversight Council charged with developing the Center for Health Information and Analysis’ (CHIA) research agenda and analytic priorities.

“I’m pleased to appoint three of the brightest minds in healthcare, big data, and financing to positions on the Oversight Council,” Baker said. “I look forward to their ideas for improving the cost-effectiveness and ensuring the long-term sustainability of our healthcare system.”

The three appointees are:

• Fay Donohue, recently retired from her CEO post at oral-health enterprise DSM/Dentaquest, where she developed cost- and quality-focused systems that have won approval for oral-health-plan businesses across the county. She anticipated and filled needs created through state exchanges as part of the U.S. Affordable Care Act, pioneered a cost-effective expansion of oral-health services to underserved populations, and contributed to a quadrupling of plan size in seven years. She serves as a strategic and operations leadership advisor on boards of diverse nonprofit and for-profit organizations, including the National Institute of Children’s Health Care Quality, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, and the Commonwealth Institute;

• Bill Geary, a partner and co-founder at Flare Capital Partners, a team of healthcare-technology venture-capital investors delivering strategic industry resources and insight to partnering entrepreneurs. Previously, he was with North Bridge Venture Partners. During his 20-year tenure investing in emerging healthcare-technology companies, he has served on the boards of numerous industry-leading companies, actively helping and working closely with management teams. Geary has held previous positions with Hambro International Equity Partners, MathSoft, Congoleum Corp., and Arthur Andersen & Co. He currently serves on the of trustees at Boston College and MGH Institute of Health Professions; and

• Colin Hill, who has served as chairman, CEO, and co-founder of GNS Healthcare Inc. in Cambridge, a nationally recognized innovator in the use of big data to study population health and precision medicine. He is also chairman and co-founder of Via Science, applying machine-learning applications to the ‘Internet of things,’ precision agriculture, and consumer behavior. Previously, he applied this platform to quantitative finance and e-commerce as chairman and co-founder of Fina Technologies. Additionally, he was a founding member of the board of directors of AesRx, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of new treatment for sickle-cell disease.

HMC’s Pack Named Labor and Delivery
Nurse of the Year

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) announced that Lisa Pack of Holyoke Medical Center has been named Nurse of the Year by the March of Dimes Massachusetts Chapter in the category of Labor and Delivery. This is the third consecutive year a Holyoke Medical Center nurse has received this elite distinction.

“Lisa is highly deserving of this prestigious recognition,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of HMC and Valley Health Systems Inc. “Holyoke Medical Center prides itself on its exemplary team of professionals such as Lisa, who demonstrate consummate skill and deep compassion in providing critical nursing care.”

Added Pack, “I am humbled to be recognized by the March of Dimes to be chosen for this award. I feel blessed to be a member of the Birthing Center staff, where I have now worked for 22 years since it opened. It is a job I love and where we work as a team to support and empower women to have the birth they desire. I am also deeply committed to MotherWoman and postpartum depression, for which I facilitate a weekly support group at Midwifery Care of Holyoke.”

The Nurse of the Year Awards is a statewide event that recognizes exceptional nurses, creates awareness of professional excellence, and promotes the future of the nursing profession, while helping to advance the mission of the March of Dimes. The selection committee reviewed applications in the categories of Advanced Practice, Community Health, Public Health, Education, Neonatal, Nurse Researcher, Administration, Pediatric, Family Medicine, Women’s Health, Student Nurse, Maternal/Newborn, Labor and Delivery, and Antepartum. More than 75 finalists emerged, and 17 were chosen to receive top honors in the various categories.

Urologist Alexander
Joins BFMC Staff

GREENFIELD — Dr. Richard Alexander recently joined Dr. John Daly at Baystate Medical Practices – Greenfield Urology.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Alexander has been practicing in Maryland, where he was chief of Urology at VA Maryland Health Care System in Baltimore. He was also a professor of Surgery/Urology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is a member of the American Urological Assoc. and a diplomate of the American Board of Urology, the American Assoc. for Cancer Research, and the Society of University Urologists.

Alexander has served on several national organizations, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the National Cancer Institute and Clinical Center, the American Foundation for Urologic Disease, and the research committee for the American Urological Assoc. His articles have appeared in several books and medical journals on topics including urologic oncology, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, and immunotherapy of renal cell carcinoma.

Alexander looks forward to shifting from large-scale medical academia to a more intimate clinical setting. “While complex, open surgical procedures were a big part of my activities in my former position, I have come to Greenfield for a chance to care for the urological needs of this beautiful, peaceful community,” he said.

As an urologist, he enjoys caring for his patients over an extended period of time. “It is a joy to have a good rapport with patients and to watch them recover and get better,” he noted. “In urology, we have the privilege to not only perform surgical procedures, but care for the patients on a one-on-one basis, allowing us to develop close relationships with patients and their families.”

Alexander is dedicated to finding all possible methods of patient care and is committed to treating all patients with the respect they deserve. He recalled, “I trained and worked for my entire career in a large academic medical center. A patient came to me who had been told — at another highly respected medical center — that her cancer was inoperable and she should go home and wait to die. I operated on her using several very complex and difficult procedures; today, six years later, she is alive, doing great and free of disease. She is choosing to travel from her southern location in Maryland to Greenfield for her continued follow-up with me.”

BMP – Greenfield Urology is located in Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s Medical Office Building, 48 Sanderson St., Greenfield, (413) 773-2680.

Wound and Hyperbaric
Medicine Center
Welcomes Talarico

GREENFIELD — Ann Talarico recently joined Baystate Franklin Medical Center as the new program director for the Wound and Hyperbaric Medicine Center at Baystate Medical Practices in Greenfield.

The Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Center, located at 48 Sanderson St., is an outpatient program focusing on chronic and non-healing wounds. As the new director, Talarico will provide operational leadership and manage a multi-disciplinary team of physicians and health professionals specially trained in evidence-based care.

“Most wounds heal with cleaning, bandages, and a little time. The Wound Center treats difficult wounds — the persistent ones, often complicated by other medical problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease,” she explained. “Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is one of the advanced treatment options we offer. It is one of the most powerful tools for treating the hardest-to-heal wounds. It works by improving oxygen flow to tissues that stimulate the formation of new blood vessels and encourage cell growth. In short, it speeds up the healing process.”

A graduate of Simmons College with a bachelor’s degree in management and a concentration in Finance, Talarico continued her studies at UMass Boston, receiving an MBA with a concentration in healthcare management.

Upon graduation from Simmons, Talarico worked as a financial and business analyst at Boston Scientific in Marlborough, then as a senior financial analyst with Steward Health Care in Boston. Boston Children’s Hospital recruited Talarico to join its financial team in 2011; she served as a senior financial analyst there for three years before joining the Center for Ambulatory Treatment and Clinical Research, Waltham Infusion, and Therapeutic Apheresis departments. Co-leading a six-sigma process improvement project, Talarico collaborated with a multi-disciplinary team of nurses, providers, financial analysts, and administrators to focus on scheduling efficiency in order to increase access and patient satisfaction.

“I designed, completed, and presented a full business-expansion proposal to increase the hospital’s income by $1.5 million annually. To not only work diligently on a project, but to see it come to fruition was very rewarding,” she said.

For more information on BFMC’s Wound Center, call (413) 773-2441.

Vaillant Rejoins Team at
Women’s Health Associates

SPRINGFIELD — Women’s Health Associates, a specialized women’s healthcare practice providing obstetrical and gynecological care in Springfield and Westfield, announced that certified nurse midwife Anne Vaillant is rejoining the practice after focusing her efforts on applying for and receiving a perinatal support grant through MotherWoman, the state Department of Mental Health, and the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project.

Vaillant, who has more than 20 years of experience caring for women, is now booking appointments for the Springfield and Westfield offices. Upon her return, she will expand her clinical focus to include both office-based ob/gyn services and care for women with perinatal emotional complications.

The grant will give providers in Greater Westfield and the hilltowns the tools necessary to build a leadership team with key partners from primary care, mental health, social services, and mothers with lived experience of postpartum depression; create a city-wide coalition to address perinatal mental-health issues; develop strategies to address barriers to care; and provide perinatal support groups for mothers at risk for, or experiencing, perinatal depression.

“Postpartum depression affects one mother in five, and it is estimated that one in every three women experiences depression during pregnancy. With numbers like these, it is imperative that all of us increase our understanding of perinatal emotional complications and share resources to build a stronger safety net for all women and families in our community,” Vaillant said, adding that the grant “provides a rare opportunity to work closely with experts in the field of perinatal mental health.”

Dr. Robert Wool, a board-certified ob/gyn at Women’s Health Associates, added that “Anne has always had a warmth and sensitivity about her that puts patients at ease. We are extremely fortunate to have her return to our practice and even more fortunate that she will be able to help women address perinatal depression and emotional complications thanks to the perinatal support grant.”

Vaillant received her RN and master’s degree in nursing from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, where she worked as a staff nurse. Following her graduation, she worked at community health centers in Dorchester and Brockton. She received her certificate of nurse midwifery from the University of Rhode Island.

Vaillant has a long-standing interest in the psychosocial aspects of women’s health, including menopausal symptoms, menstrual and pregnancy problems, premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and postpartum depression. She is a menopause practitioner certified by the North American Menopause Society, a MotherWoman postpartum support group facilitator, and has completed training in hypnobirthing and centering group prenatal care. She joined Women’s Health Associates in 2004.

To schedule an appointment, call the Springfield office at (413) 736-9978 or the Westfield office at (413) 562-8306. For more information, visit whaob-gyn.com.

SC’s Hutchinson
Leads Psychology Team at Hartford Marathon

SPRINGFIELD — For the third consecutive year, Springfield College Assistant Professor of Exercise Science and Sport Studies Jasmin Hutchinson, along with a group of graduate students, led a psychology team available to participants of the Hartford Marathon on Oct. 10.

The team was available to half-marathon and marathon runners at the pre-race expo and on race day. They were stationed at the start and finish lines, as well as throughout the course, to provide brief short psychology interventions, support, and encouragement for participants.

“This is really a unique collaboration between multiple programs at Springfield College,” said Hutchinson. “It’s a strong commitment by the students to volunteer their time at the race and gain some valuable experience. The establishment of the team has been met with great enthusiasm, and our members are thrilled to be able to apply their skills and knowledge to benefit the community.”

Twenty-six Springfield College graduate students participated, including 19 from the Psychology Department’s Athletic Counseling program and eight from the Exercise Science and Sport Studies Department’s Sport Psychology program. Students assisted runners with reviewing goals, quelling last-minute nerves, and providing cognitive skills they could utilize during the race.