The Birthing Center at UM Shore Regional Health’s Shore Medical Center at Easton will provide several classes related to childbirth, parenting, breastfeeding and being a safe sibling throughout 2024. The Birthing Center team also offers ongoing breastfeeding support, as well as certified Safe Sitter courses for adolescent babysitters, led by experienced maternal care nurses and lactation consultants. With the exception of the Safe Sitter course, all classes are offered free of charge. 

All classes will be held in-person at UM Shore Medical Center at Easton’s Nick Rajacich Health Education Center, as follows:

Understanding Labor – 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the first Saturday of each month, beginning January 6. This course provides information on the signs of labor, stages of labor and labor contractions. Skilled Birthing Center team members discuss options for comfort techniques and pain management, laboring positions, medical procedures, and recovery following delivery.

New Mom, New Baby – 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on February 10, April 13, June 8, August 10, October 12 and December 14. This course provides an overview of care for mother and child, from the time of delivery to two weeks following delivery (postpartum). Birthing Center team members provide information about postpartum care, emotions and stress, intimacy and sexuality, returning to work and birth control options. Course participants also learn about newborn care, including feeding, diapering, bathing, circumcision care and infant safety.

Breastfeeding – 9 a.m. to noon on January 13, March 9, May 11, July 13, September 14 and November 9. Birthing Center team members discuss tips and techniques for successful breastfeeding, including latch and positioning, and maintaining milk supply. (Please note: UM SRH certified lactation consultants also offer expectant and new mothers with information about the benefits of breastfeeding for mother and baby, along with tips and techniques for successful breastfeeding. For information regarding breastfeeding support offered by appointment via videoconference or in-person (outside of scheduled class time), contact Carol Leonard, 410-822-1000, ext. 5700 or ext. 5535.) 

Safe-Sibling – 9 to 11 a.m. on February 10, April 13, June 8, August 10, October 12 and December 14. This course introduces children ages 2 to 8 to ways they can help newborns and parents by being a safe sibling. Nurses introduce participating children to safety issues, safe ways they can engage with their newborn siblings, and also offer tips and tricks for parents to encourage a healthy bonding experience. This class includes a snack, story time and tour of the Birthing Center at UM Shore Medical Center at Easton.

Safe Sitter – 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on January 20, April 20, June 15 and October 19. This program is designed for youth ages 11 to 13 and teaches how to be safe babysitters. The cost for this course is $50. Registration is encouraged early as program participation is limited.

Advance registration is required for all classes and can be accomplished by calling 410-822-1000, ext. 5200. Please leave a message that includes your name, email address, phone number, and the name and date of the class for which you would like to register. Care partners are encouraged to attend with their birthing partners.

For more information about the award-winning Birthing Center at UM Shore Medical Center at Easton, visit umshoreregional.org/birthing.

 

Working in collaboration with primary and specialty care providers throughout the region, University of Maryland Shore Regional Health’s Population Health team has made significant progress in the past year toward the goal of helping people with chronic diseases manage their conditions to maintain optimal health in their home settings.

“Population Health’s case managers, transitional nurse navigators and pharmacists, and Shore Community Outreach team members are making a positive difference in the health and well-being of residents across the five-county region served by Shore Regional Health,” said Nancy Bedell, Director of Population Health. “In addition to working with providers, they have established working relationships with many community organizations, government entities and employers, and maintained a strong presence at health fairs and other events where they can share information and resources to help individuals maintain their best health.”

Highlights of the Population Health team’s activities in the past year include:

• Community Case Management (Shore Community Outreach Team) – This team, known at SCOT, enrolled 115 patients and conducted 920 home visits in Kent County. After six months, 75 patients identified as “high utilizers” realized an average decrease in health care charges of $5,919 per patient.

• Medication Management – Visiting 10 senior centers throughout the five-county region every month, Population Health’s transitional care pharmacist provided more than 500 consults to 1,500 participants, and additionally responded to more than 1,200 medication alerts.

• Transitional Nurse Navigators (TNNs) – Follow-up phone calls and home visits made by TNNs reached more than 20,000 patients and resolved more than 3,500 alerts – 75 percent within three days. They also followed 649 patients, many of whom ultimately transferred into support programs for those with heart failure, COPD and diabetes.

• Heart Failure and Diabetes Continuums – 182 patients were enrolled in the HF Continuum, which includes acute care, cardiac rehab, rehab, cardiology and follow-up by the TNNs. In the Diabetes Continuum, inpatients with HgA1c greater than 9 were identified, provided a consult with a diabetes educator, and at discharge, referred to our Diabetes and Endocrinology Center. Patients retested six months later realized a 10 percent or more reduction in their HgA1c.

• Health Equity – Population Health team members provided on-site screenings and education at Amick Farms and Angelica Nurseries – employers with a high percentage of employees from underserved populations – focusing on diabetes and heat-related illnesses. In Kent County, SCOT has worked with local church leaders to establish the African-American Women’s Advisory Committee, which is offering health-related educational program targeted to the African American community.

• Advance Directives – Population Health team members have partnered with a host of senior-focused organizations and residential care communities throughout the region to enable individuals to complete their advance directives and have them scanned into their electronic medical records (EMR). This ongoing initiative resulted in more than 1,000 advance directives completed and filed last year.

 

UM Shore Medical Center at Easton, a University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) hospital, has been recognized for the third consecutive time as High Performing in Maternity Care (Uncomplicated Pregnancy) by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals for Maternity Care.

U.S. News evaluated hospitals from across the nation that provide labor and delivery services and submitted detailed data to the publication for analysis; 680 hospitals, an all-time high, participated in this year’s U.S. News survey. Fewer than half – 46 percent – of all hospitals that offer maternity care and participated in the survey received a High Performing designation. In Maryland, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton was one of only three hospitals so designated.

“Our Birthing Center and UM Shore Medical Group – Women’s Health teams deserve tremendous credit for achieving this accomplishment and maintaining this excellent ranking for the third year in a row,” said Ken Kozel, President and CEO, UM SRH. “This ranking speaks to the dedication of all our team members and our alignment across the University of Maryland Medical System toward becoming a High Reliability Organization, which is a priority for each and every one of us.”

Earning this recognition required UM Shore Medical Center at Easton to excel on quality metrics that matter to expectant families, including newborn complication rates, C-sections among lower-risk pregnancies, early elective delivery rates, the hospital’s ability to meet federal criteria for birth-friendly practices, transparency on racial/ethnic disparities and how successfully the hospital supports breastfeeding, among other measures.

“Hospitals that receive a High Performing designation as part of Best Hospitals for Maternity Care meet a high standard in caring for parents with uncomplicated pregnancies,” said Jennifer Winston, Health Data Scientist at U.S. News. “These hospitals have C-section rates that are 26 percent lower and newborn complication rates that are 37 percent lower than unrecognized hospitals.

On average, nearly 1,000 babies a year are delivered at the hospital’s Birthing Center. In an effort to enhance quality, safety and patient experience, UM SRH now has OB/GYN physicians on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The hospital also has 24/7/365 anesthesia coverage and pediatric hospitalist doctors in the hospital around the clock to provide support to Birthing Center staff, mothers and their newborns.

“We are extremely proud to win this recognition for a third year,” said Jessica Genrich, MBA, RNC, Interim Nurse Manager of the Birthing Center. “This honor highlights Shore Regional Health’s commitment to providing the highest-quality maternity care to our Eastern Shore families. It also reflects the dedication of our providers, nurses and techs working diligently each day to deliver compassionate, evidence-based care that prioritizes the health and safety of every mother and baby.”

In addition to continuing the focus on providing the highest quality patient experience, in the past year, UM Shore Medical Group-Women’s Health has expanded access to obstetric, maternity and the full continuum of women’s health care by adding four new providers – two UM School of Medicine providers (a perinatologist who specializes in high-risk pregnancies and also a gynecologic oncologist), a certified nurse midwife and a nurse practitioner.

Parents-to-be can research their local hospitals’ performance metrics for free at health.usnews.com to help them choose where to have their baby.

For information about The Birthing Center at UM Shore Medical Center at Easton, visit umshoreregional.org/birthing. UM Shore Medical Group – Women’s Health can be reached by calling 410-820-4888.

University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is launching an in-person one session course titled “Vitals 4 Life” from 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, December 5, at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown, 100 Brown St. 

Vital signs are essential parameters of human health that give clues to how your body is functioning. The course is designed to teach participants the basics of vital signs, such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and body temperature, so attendees can learn to identify abnormalities that may require medical attention. 

There is no charge for the course, but registration is required. Classes are open to all. Family members and caretakers are encouraged to participate as well. Register online at umshoreregional.org/health-education and click on the date of the course in the calendar provided. You may also register by calling Wilson-Hypes at 410-778-7668, ext. 5679. 

Pancreatic cancer is a relatively rare cancer, representing only 3 percent of estimated new cancer diagnoses each year. However, it is especially lethal – presently the 3rd leading cause of cancer death, pancreatic cancer kills more than 50,000 Americans every year. 

For the Mid-Shore Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, Inc., supporting efforts to advance the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer, and educating the public about risk factors and symptoms of the disease are key strategies for saving lives. On this year’s World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day (November 16), the Foundation sponsored a seminar, “New Trends in Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment,” in the Cadby Theatre at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, Md. 

Designed for clinicians involved in patient care, the evening program featured presentations by three leading University of Maryland Medical System oncology specialists: Nader Hanna, MD, Professor of Surgery, UM School of Medicine (UM SOM) and Director of Clinical Operations, Division of General & Oncologic Surgery, University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC); Yixing Jiang, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, UM SOM and Director of GI Medical Oncology, Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, UMMC; and Jason K. Molitoris, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, UM SOM, Associate Medical Director, Department of Radiation Oncology, UMMC, and Director, Clinical Hyperthermia Program.

Dr. Hanna provided an overview of various risk factors for pancreatic cancer, including heredity (indicating a family history of certain genetic mutations) and smoking, and noted that symptoms of the disease, such as weight loss, back pain, jaundice and adult-onset (over age 65) diabetes most often don’t present until the disease is relatively advanced. He also reviewed various diagnostic strategies and surgical approaches, stressing the importance of surgical resection as the most significant factor for survival. 

Dr. Jiang discussed the genetic aspects of pancreatic cancer and how chemotherapy drugs are tailored to address the specific mutations identified in individual patients. She noted that systemic chemotherapy provides curative results for less than 30 percent of patients, and that side effects can be very severe; however, in many cases it does improve survival time and also palliates cancer-related symptoms.

Dr. Molitoris described the role of radiation in treating pancreatic cancer, including challenges caused by the location of the pancreas near other tissues that can be damaged by radiation. He described the criteria for cases in which radiation is employed prior to surgery to shrink tumor size, or after surgery to palliate complications from the disease and improve quality of life.

“We were really pleased to have a good turnout for this event, and the presenters provided very clear and detailed updates from the standpoint of their practice,” said Bill Shrieves, president of the Mid-Shore Pancreatic Foundation, Inc. “The Foundation does a lot to support pancreatic cancer patients and to raise funds for research on the disease, but as one of our volunteers commented, this event might be the most important thing we’ve done as an organization. If just one of the clinicians who attended does something different based on the information that was shared and it improves the outcome for a pancreatic cancer patient, that is the best kind of success.”

Shrieves also credited support from Tidewater Rotary in making the event possible. “A generous grant of $5,000 from Rotary’s Flags for Cancer Program made it possible for us to offer this event free of charge, and we are very grateful for that support,” he said.

Established in 2013 The Mid-Shore Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, Inc., sponsors and participates in events that raise awareness about pancreatic cancer in the community, and also helps patients and their families in the Mid-Shore region find assistance, financial support, and transportation to and from treatments. The group also funds research through direct grants or support for other organizations, such as the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

For more information about The Mid-Shore Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, Inc., visit https://www.midshorepancan.org/ or call 410-745-9243.

University of Maryland Shore Regional Health, led by members of the senior leadership team, recently honored team members with service award presentations.

Service award luncheons honored those celebrating 10 or 15 years of employment, and service awards dinners honored those celebrating 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 years. Since the COVID-19 pandemic had not allowed for large group gatherings since 2020, the events included milestone award recipients over the past three years.

A separate luncheon honored 42 team members who retired over the past three years. Hosted by Ken Kozel, UM SRH President and CEO, and Barbara Hendricks, Vice President of Human Resources, the events featured remarks by members of the senior leadership team praising the honorees.

“Our team members’ loyalty to Shore Regional Health, and their dedication to our UMMS values of compassion, discovery, excellence, diversity and integrity, makes me proud and grateful to be part of this team,” Kozel said. “It’s a privilege for me and my fellow members of senior leadership to congratulate each honoree personally as we handed out the service award certificates.”

 

 

Due to recurring staffing challenges, UM Shore Regional Health is temporarily closing the Laboratory at Roundtop, 6602 Church Hill Rd., Suite 450, Chestertown, effective Monday, November 13, 2023, to address these issues. UM SRH plans to reopen this location as soon as possible following the recruitment and onboarding of phlebotomists and additional team members.

While the Roundtop location (one of two lab locations available to patients in Chestertown) is closed, patients can utilize other UM SRH facilities in Chestertown, Denton and Queenstown for lab and diagnostic services. 

Additional walk-in laboratory locations for blood draw and specimen collection are available at:

• UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown, 100 Brown St., Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EKG and imaging services are also available at this location. (Please note: Patients with standing lab orders who were fulfilling those orders at the Roundtop location should visit UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown to fulfill their order, where the records will be on file.) 
• UM Shore Regional Health Diagnostics and Imaging at Denton, 1140 Blades Farm Rd., Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Phlebotomy is available at this location, as well as EKG from 8 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday, and imaging services are available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

UM Shore Regional Health Diagnostics and Imaging at Queenstown, 125 Shoreway Drive, Suite 130, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EKG and imaging services are also available at this location.

Under the leadership of Kathy Deoudes, Chair, the UM Shore Regional Health Board of Directors recently welcomed four new members: LuAnn Brady, Marlene Feldman, Wayne Hockmeyer and Valerie Overton. The Board’s composition includes representatives from the five counties served by UM SRH, the regional physician community and UMMS.

Serving as Secretary of the Board, LuAnn Brady, MSPH, joined UM Shore Regional Health as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in February 2023. Previously, she spent more than 10 years with University of Pennsylvania Health System, first as Chief Administrative Officer for Penn Medicine’s Heart Vascular service line, and later as Vice President of Service Line Operations at Penn Medicine. She also worked for nearly 20 years for Bon Secours Health System, Inc. in Baltimore, first as Director of Planning and later as Vice President of Professional and Support Services. Most recently, she served nearly five years as Chief Operating Officer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Brady holds a Master of Science in Public Health with a focus on Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Economics Management from Salem College in Winston-Salem, N.C. She is a member of the American College of Health Care Executives and was selected as one of the Top 100 Chief Operating Officers of 2022 by C-Suite Spotlight, which provides news and information on today’s leading C-Level executives.

Marlene Feldman is a former member of the UM SRH Shore Regional Health Board of Directors (2005-2022) who served on the Executive, Ethics and Governance Committees and as chair of the Quality, Safety and Experience Committee, 2021-2022. A current member of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation Board of Trustees, previously she served on the boards of the University’s Terrapin Club, the Chesapeake College Foundation, Mid-Shore Community Foundation, the Dorchester Family YMCA and the Dorchester County Public Library. She also has served as Government Liaison for the Dorchester Arts Council and as a member of the Dorchester County Board of Education and the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.

A resident of Trappe, Md., Feldman is a member of Feldman, LLC, a real estate holding company, and previously served nine years on the Board of Directors, ISG International, Inc. Her early career included teaching at the elementary school level in Baltimore and Cambridge, and varied administrative and policy projects in the field of public education. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from the University of Maryland.

Wayne T. Hockmeyer, PhD, is a retired U.S. Army Officer and former Chief of the Department of Immunology at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Following his retirement from active duty in 1986, he served as Vice President of Laboratory Research and Product Development at Praxis Biologics. He later founded Medimmune, Inc., a company focused on oncology, infectious and inflammatory diseases, which he served as Chairman and/or Chief Executive Officer for 20 years until it was purchased by Astra Zeneca in 2007.

A graduate of Purdue University, Dr. Hockmeyer earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida, which later honored him as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 1988. He also has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Purdue University and multiple honors and awards, including the Paul A. Siple Award, the Tech Council of Maryland’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young. His civic and community contributions include serving on multiple boards, including Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Baxter International, Inc., Baxalta, Inc., and the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, which he chaired for six years. A resident of Trappe, Md., he presently served as Vice Chair of the Board of Saints Peter and Paul School in Easton.

Valerie Overton has served as a Principal Health Policy Analyst and Health Policy Department Manager at The Mitre Corporation since 2015. During two decades prior to her role at Mitre, she held progressively responsible positions in health care policy, including Associate Director of Policy Analysis, Research & Methodology for the Health Services Cost Review Commission; Director of Government Affairs for the Anne Arundel Health System (now Luminis Health); and Senior Vice President of Governmental Policy & Advocacy for the Maryland Hospital Association. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Baltimore in Baltimore, Md., and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and English from McDaniel College in Westminster, Md. 

A resident of Chestertown, Md., Overton has been an active member of the community, serving as a member and ultimately secretary, vice president and president of the Kent County Public Library Board of Trustees (2018-2022), and as treasurer for the Chestertown Tea Party (2003-2012). She also is a founding member of the Washington College Masters Swim Team and has served as swim instructor for Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne’s summer program since 2016. 

UM Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) recently hosted a community presentation at UM Shore Medical Center at Easton on orthopedic and rehabilitative services offered at The Orthopedic Center (TOC). Providers from TOC, a partner of UM SRH, presented information on surgery, pain relief, prehabilitation, and rehabilitation services, as follows: 

• Jason Jancosko, DO, and Kevin McCoy, MD, spoke about the latest surgical techniques for shoulder and hip surgeries.
• Myron Szczukowski, MD, described a new innovative cold therapy (cryoneurolysis) that can relieve about 50% of patient knee pain.
• Sheila Taylor, DO, explained additional non-surgical pain relief options including shock wave therapy, platelet rich plasma, and ultrasound guided needling techniques for tendon pain relief.
• Jennifer Baima, MD, addressed prehabilitation strategies, such as specific exercise programs, prior to surgeries, radiation therapy and other procedures.
• Chris Jobeck, PT at Shore Rehabilitation as Easton, provided videos of the Rehab Center’s state-of-the art equipment, including the Guldman Lift and Lokomat.

“The event was an excellent forum to discuss everything The Orthopedic Center and our Shore Rehab team have to offer patients undergoing orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation,” said event organizer Khalid Kurtom, MD, FACS, Regional Chair, Department of Surgery, and Medical Director, UM Shore Medical Group – Neurosurgery. “These teams work closely together to give our patients state of the art orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation care that promotes the experience and outcomes possible. We are fortunate to have their expertise here on the Shore.”

For more information about TOC, visit theorthopediccenter.net or call 410-820-8226.

CUTLINE:  Shown with Dr. Kurtom (back row, third from left) are members of UM SRH’s Orthopedic Center and Shore Rehabilitation at Easton teams. (Kurtom dinner 2023.jpeg)

UM Shore Regional Health’s Senior Leadership team recently hosted post-COVID luncheons for team members in each of the five counties UM SRH serves — Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Talbot and Queen Anne’s — to celebrate the World Health Organization declaring an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency earlier this year and to honor all team members who served during the pandemic as “caregivers.” 

The luncheons also served as a remembrance for those team members who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the pandemic and lost their lives, Calvin Molock, Jr. and Bronte Johnson. Family members of both Molock and Johnson attended the luncheon in Easton. Plaques honoring Molock and Johnson will be placed at UM Shore Medical Centers at Cambridge, Chestertown and Easton, as well as UM Shore Medical Pavilions at Denton and Queenstown. 

“COVID made us here at Shore, and health care teams and community members everywhere, realize very quickly how nimble and course-corrective we had to be as new information on COVID came to light,” said William Huffner, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs, UM SRH. “There were a lot of unsung heroes during COVID, but especially infection prevention teams everywhere, who helped us address the changes as they came,” added Dr. Huffner, who served as Incident Commander for UM SRH during the COVID-19 pandemic and gave opening remarks at some post-COVID celebration luncheons. “We all are just so appreciative of everyone who stepped up to help our caregivers and communities during this challenging time and these luncheons are just a small token of our appreciation for our team’s dedication.”

Artwork honoring “health care heroes” also was unveiled during the post-COVID luncheons in Cambridge, Chestertown, Easton and Queenstown.

During fall 2022, Kelly Strannahan, Patient Experience Manager at UM SRH, reached out to the Kent Cultural Alliance with an idea of how to honor the commitment of UM SRH team members and health care workers to the communities UM SRH serves in a meaningful and permanent way. The Kent Cultural Alliance proposed having a competition to create mural-size artwork for each UM SRH facility in each county and collaborated with arts councils in Dorchester, Talbot and Queen Anne’s counties, working with each to select an artist from their county to complete the commission. Each artist was provided with canvasses, made possible with the support of The Finishing Touch in Chestertown, and the result is four stunning original murals celebrating health care heroes throughout our region.

In Dorchester County, the artist is Miriam Moran, for Talbot County, the artist is Kevin Garber, and in Queen Anne’s County, then-high school senior Claire Parker was selected. In Kent County, the honor was given to Paul Santori, who early on in the pandemic had a severe case of COVID and was hospitalized at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown. Sadly, Paul succumbed to a non-COVID related health issue in winter 2023. His wife, Inez Santori, made the decision in conversation with Kent Cultural Alliance Director John Schratwieser to transfer the commission to Paul’s dear friend, Ron Akins. Paul had sketched his ideas while lying in the hospital for several weeks before his death. With Inez’s support, Ron was able to realize Paul’s vision for the mural.

UM Shore Medical Pavilion at Denton was recently added to the list of commissioned artwork locations and work is underway to have a local artist, Nicholas Tindall, represented in that space.

Each of the county arts councils provided a stipend of $1,250 for their respective artist, and this stipend was supported in part by Kent County’s Hedgelawn Foundation. The five arts councils receive funding from the Community Arts Development program of the Maryland State Arts Council, which receives financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“It was a great honor to be asked to be involved in honoring our health care heroes at five UM Shore Regional Health facilities on the Eastern Shore,” said Schratwieser. “With the support of the directors of our five county arts councils and The Hedgelawn Foundation, we were able to commission five new murals — from gifted artists — to recognize and celebrate our dedicated health care professionals. The positive impact of the arts in any health care environment is well-documented for patients and their recovery. We believe it can also contribute to the well-being of health care workers. On behalf of our artists and my colleagues across the Shore, we extend our gra