Regional Health has announced a reduction in diagnostic imaging services for the time being due to COVID-19. According to Dr. Kim Oster, MD, president, Shore Radiology, and Dr. Dale Johnson, MD, chairman,Shore Regional Health Radiology Departments, and in keeping with the directive of the Secretary of Health of the State of Maryland, as of March 24, 2020, all elective/non-urgent imaging at all facilities are postponed and only critical imaging is being performed.

Critical imaging services include trauma, oncology, infection, ischemia, acute bleeding, and acute neurologic changes. Other requests are reviewed by the imaging team on a case by case basis.

“We are calling patients with appointments scheduled in the next several weeks to inform them of this change, but we also want potential ‘walk-ins’ to know that their test will not be conducted at this time so they will not make an unnecessary trip,” says Penny Olivi, director Diagnostic Imaging for UM Shore Regional Health. “We expect to begin accepting appointment requests for elective/non-urgent imaging in mid-April. If you have a question about your appointment or whether or not an imaging location is we open, please call 410-822-1000, extension 2600.”

In addition, the Diagnostic & Imaging Center has cancelled Saturday hours until further notice.

As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,200 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers works with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.

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Christina Ball

University of Maryland Shore Regional Health’s Palliative Care Program recently announced the addition of nurse practitioner Christina Ball, MS, AGACNP-BC, CNRN, to its team. Ball will provide palliative care support to patients in the UM SRH Palliative Care Program, which works collaboratively with a patient’s primary care and specialists’ team to relieve the stress and symptoms of serious or chronic illness.

“Christina is passionate about helping patients and their loved ones manage chronic or serious illness and maximize their quality of life,” says Lakshmi Vaidyanathan, MD, medical director, UM Shore Regional Palliative Care. “Her outstanding experience, leadership and credentials, as well as her familiarity with UM Shore Regional Health, make her an excellent addition to the Palliative Care team.”

Ball comes to UM SRH from Bayleigh Chase in Easton, where she was a nurse practitioner. She also has held positions as a nurse practitioner in Peninsula Regional Medical Center’s Neurology Department, was the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Comprehensive Stroke Center Coordinator in Baltimore, and moved up from staff nurse to clinical coordinator to neuroscience specialist with University of Maryland Shore Regional Health, where she worked for more than 10 years. In 2012, she was recognized as the recipient of the UM SRH Outstanding Achievement in Professional Nursing Award.

“Helping patients and their families manage a chronic or serious illness will help increase the patient’s quality of life, reduce hospitalizations and minimize caregiver strain. I am looking forward to helping patients navigate the often scary uncertainty of serious or chronic illness and provide them with comfort and high quality care, close to home,” Ball said.

Ball received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Stevenson University and her Master of Science in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner from the University of Maryland Baltimore, where she was a clinical nurse specialist on the Trauma/Critical Care unit.

For more information or to request a palliative care consult, please contact the UM Shore Regional Palliative Care Program at 410-820-4434.

About UM Shore Regional Health: As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,600 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers work with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.

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The UM Memorial Hospital Foundation will host a free seminar, “Retirement Planning and Asset Titling Pitfalls,” on Saturday March 21 from 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. at the Nick Rajacich Health Education Center, located in Shore Medical Center at Easton at 219 S. Washington Street.

Guest presenters at the seminar will be Elizabeth Spurry, CFP, president and owner, Tred Avon Family Wealth in Easton, and Semene Gilden, vice president, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.

Spurry and Gilden will discuss the keys to retiring successfully. Says Gilden, “The importance of retirement planning cannot be overestimated. Retiring without a plan is a miracle in disguise! ”

Elizabeth Spurry, president Tred Avon Wealth and Semene Gilden, vice president Merrill Lynch Wealth.

Topics include life insurance and retirement plan designations, the SECURE Act and Planning with IRAs, titling of real property & financial accounts, and retirement risks. There will be additional time allocated for Q & A.

For more information about the seminar or to register, please contact Janet Andrews at (410) 822-1000, extension 5792 or email janet@umm.edu. This event is free to all attendees; pre-registration is required.  Light refreshments will be served and free parking will be available in the parking lot adjacent to the Health Education Center.

As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,200 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers works with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here

Inside the music room at St. Michaels High School, all eyes are on Amy Effler as she leads her chorus class in preparing for an upcoming concert. The sopranos, along with the altos and basses, keep singing a refrain from a song called “Believe” that includes the line, “There’s no time to waste, there’s so much to celebrate.”

Those words seem all too fitting, echoing in a classroom where the much-beloved teacher continues to celebrate being alive. At the beginning of each school year, this teacher stands in front of her classes and shares her personal story. “I tell them the truth,” says Effler. She goes into detail about the summer of 2016 and how at the age of 28, she had a seizure that changed everything.

Effler was then the epitome of good health and fitness, running six miles a day and drinking lots of water. So what could have caused the seizure? That’s what the emergency department team at University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton wanted to know. Multiple tests, including an MRI, were quickly ordered. Then the answer was known as tests revealed a sizeable mass on the left side of her brain.

Within 24 hours of the diagnosis, Effler and her husband, Kris Effler, were introduced to UM Shore Medical Group neurosurgeon Khalid Kurtom, MD. “I said to her, ‘We now know what caused the seizure, but we don’t know what this mass is. I can’t yet tell you how aggressive the tumor is. We can go in and take a piece of it to biopsy or we can go in and try to take it all out,’” explains Dr. Kurtom.

Effler had to make a fast decision and opted for the best chance of survival, which meant removing the whole tumor. But this was not your typical operation because she needed to be awake during the brain surgery. Dr. Kurtom recalls what he said to Effler, “The safest way to do this is while you are awake so I can actually test you as the operation proceeds, figure out where the functional areas are and get close to them without damaging them. This is very risky – even if I do an amazing operation, your brain will be stunned. That means you are going to wake up without being able to talk or move the right side of your body.”

He adds, “It is very hard to describe to a patient what this will mean — it is one thing to talk about it, but it is another to actually experience it.”

Dr. Khalid Kurtom and former patient, Amy Effler.

As expected, after a 5-hour surgery, which Effler does not remember, she could not walk or talk. “My whole right side was paralyzed. My whole language center of the brain was wiped out, so I had to relearn how to add and subtract and pretty much every last thing,” she says.

Effler underwent a few weeks of inpatient rehab in the Requard Center for Acute Rehabilitation in the Easton hospital, followed by months of outpatient rehabilitation, including arduous physical, occupational and speech therapy. She also took oral chemotherapy and had many weeks of radiation therapy to ensure the best outcome.

“I was ignorant of how hard I was going to have to work to recover, but the team at Shore Regional Health was awesome and so supportive and helped me along the way,” says Effler. “I also couldn’t have recovered as well as I have without the love and support from my husband, Kris. He is the best team-mate in the world. I also was so encouraged by Talbot County Schools Superintendent Dr. Kelly Griffith, who took the time to send me flowers on multiple occasions. The birthday video that was made by the St. Michaels school staff and students was the best present I had ever received, and motivated me to work even harder. I have to give many people credit. There are too many to list!”

“I don’t think she knows that during her recovery, her husband would send me videos of her. I probably have 20 videos of her lifting weights and making amazing progress,” says Dr. Kurtom.

As a music teacher and singer, Effler knows some tricks of the trade that worked to her advantage. Every night, she would lie in bed and practice building her vocal cords with a clicking in her throat. “They said speech would be the last thing to come back, but for me, it was actually the first thing to come back,” explains Effler.

Now almost three and a half years past that initial seizure and brain surgery, Effler is still recovering. She walks with a slight limp and her right hand continues to be impaired. “I learned to write with my left hand, but am not very good at it. I also play the piano with one hand, and I am better with one hand than most people are with two,” she says with a laugh. She can poke fun, but there are still days when she is quite frustrated because the challenges of recovery continue. “I accept things, but I am never going to stop trying to be as strong as possible.”

Effler worked so hard with one goal always top of mind. She wanted to get back to the classroom – and to the annual slate of concerts and musical plays she directs for St. Michaels’ elementary, middle and high schools — so she could “make great music with the students.” After her one-year absence, the Talbot County School System welcomed her back with open arms, as did her students. So yes, there is so much to celebrate!

See a video of Amy’s story at  https://www.umms.org/shore/news/2020/after-brain-surgery-so-much-to-celebrate

As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,200 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers works with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here

The Birthing Center at University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton is bringing the joy of a baby’s birth to patients, staff and visitors throughout the hospital by activating “Operation: Lullaby.” Johannes Brahms’ “The Lullaby” will play over the loudspeaker throughout the Easton hospital, during the hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., every time a baby is born.

First published in 1868, “The Lullaby” was dedicated to Brahms’s friend, Bertha Faber, on the occasion of the birth of her second son. “The Lullaby” was first performed in public on December 22, 1869, in Vienna, Austria, by Louise Dustmann (singer) and Clara Schumann (piano).

Luanne Satchell, nurse manager, Women’s and Children’s Health Services, far right, stands with team members of the Birthing Center at UM SMC.

According to Luanne Satchell, nurse manager, Women’s and Children’s Health Services, “When you hear the lullaby, it is within minutes of the birth of a child. We really didn’t realize the impact this program would have on patients and other team members, but it’s been a really positive addition to the Birthing Center and the hospital as a whole. When you think about it, we are celebrating the joy of birth with our entire hospital community. People have sought our team members out to report that it really puts a smile on their faces and we couldn’t be happier.”

About UM Shore Regional Health: As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,600 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers work with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here

Members of the Rotary Club of Easton, Maryland, District 7630, visited the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton in January to deliver coloring books and crayons to patients.

Rotary Club 7630 members Hugh Dawkins and George Hatcher, as well as Rotarian and hospital volunteer Ken Sadler, dressed as “Dr. Goodwrench,” delivered coloring book and crayon packages for adults and children in the Pediatric and Women’s Services units, as well as the Requard Center for Acute Rehabilitation as part of a community outreach initiative. Additional crayon and coloring book packages will go to the Emergency Department for pediatric patients and family members of patients. Patients were grateful for the visit and the gifts.

Easton Rotarians Hugh Dawkins, far left, and Ken Sadler (aka, Dr. Goodwrench), far right, visited staff at the Requard Center for Acute Rehabilitation at UM SMC at Easton.

Dawkins said, “Rotary, an international service organization, works in communities to provide ‘Service above Self,’ and always wants to bring joy to our neighbors. This is just a way to tell people Rotary Club members care.”

Dr. Goodwrench visits patients, loved ones and staff throughout the hospital as part of the Caring Clowns initiative to provide support, compassion and humor to those in the hospital. The Caring Clowns have been active in the hospital for more than a decade.

About UM Shore Regional Health: As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,600 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers work with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here