The long-awaited Veterans Affairs clinic in Brunswick County began seeing patients on August 15, saving many veterans in need of medical services a trip to Wilmington or Fayetteville.

The clinic, located at 20 Medical Campus Drive in Supply, is managed by the VA Center in Fayetteville. It totals 2,000 square feet.

Staff will include one PACT team, consisting of a provider, registered nurse, licensed practical nurse and a medical administration specialist. PACT team members will provide primary care services for veterans. The team will see patients Monday through Thursday, with other specialty care services using the facility each Friday.

PACT stands for Program of Assertive Community Treatment. VA officials said there are 13,000 veterans living in Brunswick County, but county officials have estimated the actual number at more than 15,000 because of the number of veterans moving to the county.

U.S. Rep Mike McIntyre, who participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, said in a news release the VA clinic will be a big benefit to Brunswick County veterans.

“There are 13,000 veterans in Brunswick County who need the services where they are, so we need to bring the services to them,” McIntyre said.

Brunswick County veterans have long advocated locating a VA clinic or larger medical center closer to home. Efforts to put a VA clinic in the former Brunswick Community Hospital were unsuccessful.

Paul Fisher, a retired Army colonel who was part of a group of Brunswick County vets who lobbied to have a local clinic, told VA officials that the ribbon cutting was the culmination of several years of hard work. “This is beautiful,” Fisher said. 
“This has been a long time coming, and it’s great to finally have it here.”

The Brunswick County Outreach Clinic joins Community Based Outpatient Clinics in Wilmington, Jacksonville, Robeson County and Hamlet. VA officials said the clinics provide greater access to care for veterans covered by the Fayetteville VA Medical Center.
Plans call for a new, 80,000-square-foot multi-specialty outpatient clinic in Wilmington to open in 2013.

There are also plans in place to expand the size of the Jacksonville clinic to meet the growing patient load in connection with the close proximity to Camp Lejeune.

The new Brunswick County Outreach Clinic was formally dedicated during an August 8 ceremony.

Doctor receives education award

Dr. Bonzo Reddick, a physician affiliated with the South East Area Health Education Center, was recently awarded the George T. Wolff Award, SEAHEC officials said.

Established in 1999, the award is named after Dr. George T. Wolff, who was the former director of the Family Practice Residency Program at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, N.C.

Nominated by third-year medical students, the award is given each year to a faculty member who demonstrates dedication to quality community-based medical education and is selected by the Whitehead Medical Society and the University of North Carolina Department of Family Medicine.

Reddick formally received the award on Aug. 17 during a ceremony at UNC Chapel Hill.

Reddick is a family physician practicing at Coastal Family Medicine in Wilmington. He is also a member of the teaching faculty at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Residency in Family Medicine.

Reddick serves there as director of pre-doctoral education, where he coordinates and facilitates medical student rotations in family medicine.

Reddick’s professional interests include broad-spectrum family medicine, medical student and resident education, health disparities, global health and preventive medicine.

Reddick attended the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and completed his residency training and the Career Development Fellowship at UNC. Before  joining SEAHEC in 2010, he served as an attending physician for five years at the UNC Family Medicine Residency, where he was named Resident Teacher of the Year.

The South East Area Health Education Center, Wilmington’s largest foundation-based non-profit organization, was created in 1973 with the mission to improve healthcare in New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick, Duplin and Columbus counties by providing education, training and resources to healthcare professionals.

SEAHEC increases the local medical workforce by coordinating residency programs, providing clinical experience for medical students and inspiring youth to pursue healthcare careers. SEAHEC also provides medical services to the underserved through its medical practices and assists area physicians to adopt electronic health records and improve clinical quality.

For more information on SEAHEC programs and services, visit www.seahec.net.

Hawthorne named associate medical director

Dr. Henry Hawthorne was recently named associate medical director of Community Care of the Lower Cape Fear, the organization announced.

Hawthorne has practiced pediatrics in Wilmington for more than 38 years. He retired from Wilmington Health in June.

At Community Care of the Lower Cape Fear, Hawthorne will work with the pediatric and family medicine practices to improve healthcare quality and outcomes for children in the non-profit organization’s six-county network, which includes New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, Bladen, Columbus and Onlsow counties.

Community Care of the Lower Cape Fear serves nearly 30,000 Medicaid children in the region.

Hawthorne is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has served on the boards of Wilmington’s Child Advocacy Commission and Smart Start program, as well as the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Pediatric Society.

Hawthorne said in a news release he is looking forward “to starting this next phase of my career.”

“Community Care of the Lower Cape Fear helps our local children get a healthy start in life, providing consistent access to high-quality healthcare and focusing on improving care for the chronically ill, all of which leads to improved outcomes and family well-being,” Hawthorne said.

Hawthorne brings more than 40 years of pediatric experience and leadership to CCLCF, organization spokeswoman Beth Adams said.

In his executive role, Hawthorne will work with pediatricians and family physicians to promote best practices in children’s health care.

Those practices include, Adams said, the adoption of evidence-based guidelines and quality improvement strategies that improve health outcomes and reduce care costs.

Hawthorne will also help facilitate communication and collaboration between local providers and Community Care of the Lower Cape Fear. Hawthorne joins a leadership team that also includes Dr. Jim Jones, medical director; and Lydia Newman, MPP, executive director.

“Dr. Hawthorne is a superb physician who is passionate about promoting the health and well-being of children. Our mission is to advocate for better care for the 30,000 children in our program, and to provide resources to make that possible. We are confident with Dr. Hawthorne’s leadership we will make tremendous strides in this undertaking,” Jones said in a news release.

Hawthorne received his bachelor’s degree from Washington and Lee University. He graduated from the University of Virginia Medical School, where he earned his Doctorate of Medicine. He completed his residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis.

Hawthorne moved to Wilmington 38 years ago to join the Children’s Clinic, which was acquired by Wilmington Health.

Adams said one of Hawthorne’s first tasks will be working with the network on the $6.5 million Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act Quality Demonstration Grant recently awarded to Community Care of North Carolina.

CHIPRA preserves free or low-cost comprehensive healthcare to children. The program’s goal is to reduce the number of uninsured children in the state and improve the quality of care that they receive to ensure that more of our children will be healthy and ready to learn and work.

Specifically, Adams said, “The CHIPRA quality demonstration aims to establish a national quality system to evaluate and improve the healthcare delivered to children on Medicaid, especially for children with special health care needs. The quality measures address such areas as well-child visits, early detection and screening, emergency department use, and best practices in managing chronic diseases that impact children.”

An additional goal of the CHIPRA grant is to further the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment Program, which is geared toward improving access to and utilization of services to which Medicaid children are entitled, such as oral health, vision, hearing, behavioral health, and obesity.

North Carolina is one of only 10 states to receive CHIPRA funding, Adams said.

There are 29 quality measures that will be implemented over the next few years, Adams said. Registered nurse Emily Hickey recently joined Community Care of the Lower Cape Fear as a quality improvement consultant, and will collaborate with Hawthorne to assist pediatric and family medicine practices as they work on improving quality of care.

CCLCF is one of 14 similar networks participating in the statewide healthcare quality improvement strategy. For more information, call (910) 763-0200 or visit www.CareLCF.org.

Oncologist joins Zimmer Cancer Center team

A new specialist has joined the team of oncologists at New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s Zimmer Cancer Center.

Dr. Lucybeth Nieves Arriba began caring for women who need treatment for gynecologic cancers on August 8.

“I am so excited to be back in southeastern North Carolina and to have the opportunity to care for women facing cancer,” Arriba said in a news release. She joins Dr. Walter Gajewski, of New Hanover Gynecologic Oncology-NHRMC Physician Group.

As gynecology oncologists, Arriba and Gajewski specialize in diagnosing and treating women with cancer of the reproductive organs. The practice provides comprehensive care, including surgery, chemotherapy, and post-treatment surveillance. The physicians also help train surgical residents at New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

“Most community hospitals do not have GYN oncologists on staff because it’s a specialty usually reserved for large academic medical centers,” Chad Knight, administrator of the Zimmer Cancer Center, said in a news release. “Now, women in our community have access to two of these highly-skilled physicians, both of whom are experienced in minimally-invasive surgery, including laparoscopy and robotics.”

Arriba said she was drawn to GYN oncology is because it provides an opportunity to stay with the patient through all phases of the disease, from diagnosis to surgery to chemotherapy and beyond.

GYN oncologists have four years of medical school training, four years of residency in obstetrics and gynecology and a three-to-four year fellowship in gynecology oncology.

Arriba graduated from the University of Puerto Rico and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Connecticut. She completed her fellowship in gynecology oncology at The Cleveland Clinic.