Cary Memorial Hospital
care for patients living with multiple disabilities.
Beyond the growth and expansion of the hospital
quality, compassionate care, and advancing technology
became its trademark. Cary became the first hospital in
Northern Maine to establish fixed-based MRI services in
September, 2001. The unit has just this year been replaced
with the most advanced system available for community
hospitals. Cary also installed a new 64-multi slice CT scan
and has advanced its electronic medicine to such an extent
that it is among the top 2% of hospitals in the nation in the
utilization of digital technology. From point of care nursing
documentation to physician order entry, from automated
medication dispensing to patient bed-side medication bar
coding, Cary has become a national leader in patient safety
technology.
Pines Health Services
In the 1980’s the hospital saw the need to create
a more effective physician practice management. Many
physicians coming out of medical school were no longer
interested in a private practice but rather preferred to
become part of a group practice and to be in an employed
relationship. To that end, Pines Health Services was
created. Today Pines Health Services has five locations
throughout central and north-central Aroostook County
and boasts nearly 60 physicians and mid-level providers.
Pines is now a Federally Qualified Health Center providing
improved access to patients at all income levels.
Pines
is an independent organization and is
managed by a voluntary Board of
Directors.
The images on pages 26 and 28 are available
in the new book Caribou Through the Ages
available at the Cary Medical Center Gift Shop.
Leadership Shows the Way
Key to the longevity and advancement of Cary
Medical Center has been the active engagement of a
voluntary Board of Directors who serve diligently in the
complex environment of healthcare. Individuals including,
Don Collins, Jack Lancaster, John McElwee, Ted Tornquist,
Phil St. Peter, David Wakem, Ward Silsbee, Phil Harmon,
Paul Haines, Shirley Ayer, Betty Hamilton, Ted Pierson,
Allen Hunter, Bob Solman, and others helped to transition
the hospital to its new home. Today, leaders continue to
emerge including our first physician Board Chairs, Dr. Carl
Flynn, Scott Solman, and Peter Ashley.
Among the key ingredients that have made Cary
Medical Center one of the leading rural hospitals in the
nation include a dedicated and high quality medical staff.
From the founding of the hospital by Dr. Jefferson Cary has
come a long line of outstanding physicians. In more recent
times, deceased physicians including, Pediatrician Dr.
Mead Hayward, Internist Dr. Douglas Collins, Orthopedic
Surgeon Dr. Francis Chan, Ophthalmologist and General
Practitioner Dr. Clement Donahue, Anesthesiologist Dr.
David Chien, ENT Surgeon Dr. Naveed Farooki, General
Surgeon Dr. Cesar Siruno, and Internist Dr. Vera Kennedy
spent many years building the tradition of care that is so
much a part of Cary Medical Center.
Other physicians, some who have retired after long
careers at Cary including General Surgeon Dr. Fredrick
Gregory, Urologist Dr. C. T. Ho, Pathologist Dr. Minuro
Wakana, Pediatricians Dr. Norm Seder and Dr. Mike
Kellum, Internist Dr. Leland White, and Ophthalmologist
Dr. Tilak Parhiraja, provided for the care of patients
throughout Aroostook County.