Living

The BMH Center for Cardiovascular Health announced cardiovascular surgeon Daniel Walsh, MD, will begin seeing patients in its offices starting Monday, May 6.

Dr. Walsh has been a member of the medical staff at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire since 1987. He will be at BMH every other Monday between the hours of 1:00 and 5:00 PM to consult on a variety of arterial and venous diseases, including aortic aneurysm, carotid disease, peripheral arterial disease, venous disease, renal artery disease, hypertension, stenosis and mesenteric ischemia.

“Having Dr. Walsh here to evaluate and treat vascular disease adds another element of care we can provide for our community,” says the Center’s Medical Director, Mark Burke, MD, adding that Dr. Walsh will also be available as a consultative resource for the BMH Center for Wound Healing.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announced its Comprehensive Breast Care Program was awarded a grant from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Foundation in April.

According to Kelly McCue, RN, MSN, nurse navigator and administrator for the BMH Comprehensive Breast Care program, the grant will be used to support accommodation of patients with disabilities and improve accessibility to mammograms and other breast imaging services.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announced it has received a grant from an anonymous foundation. This grant fully funds the training and implementation of the STAR Program into its Rehabilitation and Oncology Departments.

STAR (Survivorship Training and Rehab) is a national certification program developed by Massachusetts-based Oncology Rehab Partners, leading experts in the field of survivorship care. The program provides hospitals and health care providers with the tools and training needed to minimize the side effects of cancer treatment.

The Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Auxiliary is sponsoring a community wide event with former Vermont Governor Madeleine M. Kunin on Wednesday, May 8 at the New England Youth Theatre.

Based on her 2012 book The New Feminist Agenda (Chelsea Green), Kunin’s discussion will address longstanding concerns about opportunity and family responsibilities, including innovative work/family policies embracing affordable quality child care, paid family leave, and equal pay for equal work. “Can women and men unite on sensible and fair family/work issues?” she asks in her book The New Feminist Agenda. President Bill Clinton states: “In this important new book, Madeleine Kunin argues that empowering women to succeed at home and at work is both good economics and good social policy. She presents a convincing roadmap for how we achieve that vision, and calls on all of us to be part of a brighter future.”

National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposal of accumulated unwanted and unused prescription medications, while also educating the general public about the potential for misuse of these medications. Clean out your medicine cabinet and bring your expired and unused medications to one of the following locations.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital has named Gregory Gadowski, MD, as Medical Director of the BMH Center for Wound Healing, scheduled to open May 9.

Dr. Gadowski has received intensive training in wound treatment from BMH’s partnering organization, Healogics. Under his direction, the Center’s trained staff of physicians, nurses and technicians will work with patients to set up individualized treatment programs utilizing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), negative pressure therapy, bioengineered tissue and biosynthetics to treat open sores and heal wounds.

In addition to his new role as medical director, Dr. Gadowski will continue his practice at Brattleboro General Surgery, a member of BMH Physician Group. He is a graduate of University of Chicago Medical School and a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital has hired Lynne Vantassel as Program Director for the new BMH Center for Wound Healing, opening in early May.

Vantassel will be responsible for achieving clinical, operational and financial results at the center. Prior to joining BMH,

Vantassel served as the Director of Global Program Management at WPP in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She holds an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BSBA in Business Management from Western New England University.

“We’re very fortunate to have someone with Lynne’s qualifications on board as we launch the Center for Wound Healing,” says Greg Gadowski, MD, who is the Center’s Medical Director. “She has done a terrific job already just making sure we are fully prepared for our opening next month.”

Green Mountain Care Board member Dr. Karen Hein will be the guest speaker during Brattleboro Memorial Hospital’s next Mediterranean Dinner, taking place on Thursday, May 9 at 5:30 PM in the Brew Barry Conference Center.

Hein, who lives in nearby Jacksonville, Vermont, will discuss heart disease and its impact on women. In addition to her work for the Green Mountain Care Board, Hein is an adjunct professor of Family/Community Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. In 1987, she founded the first comprehensive HIV/AIDS awareness programs for adolescents in the U.S. and is also the author of AIDS: Trading Fears for Facts: A Guide for Young People (Consumer Reports Books, 1994).