Watertown, NY – Samaritan Medical Center unveiled its newly expanded Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) specialty clinic with an Open House and Ribbon Cutting event on Friday, May 5, 2023. The clinic, previously located on the second floor of the Samaritan Medical Office Building at 826 Washington Street moved to its new, larger space on the third floor and began seeing patients at the new location on Monday, May 8, 2023. The new clinic increased in space from 3,800 to 7,300 square feet, from 9 to 11 exam rooms, and from 1 to 3 treatment rooms.
“This is truly an exciting day for us,” said Tom Carman, president and chief executive officer. The new facility will allow the providers to accommodate more patients and to perform in-office treatments and procedures in a timely manner.
Dr. David Gordon, an otolaryngologist, said the ENT clinic sees nearly 10,000 patients a year. “That’s a big investment in our community,” he said. “Samaritan has recognized that and recognized that this is part of our future and that we’re growing, and we’ll continue to grow and with this beautiful new facility we can do just that.”
Dr. Tony Chuang, otolaryngologist and chief of the ENT service at Samaritan, expressed his happiness with the new facility, which will allow them to continue to deliver the best care possible for patients locally. “I’m very excited to see that we will be able to provide more services to our community and be able to also attract other candidates to join our party here,” he said.
Samaritan’s Ear, Nose &Throat (ENT) specialists diagnose, manage and treat diseases and disorders of the ear, nose, throat and related structures of the head and neck, including the sinuses, larynx (voice box), oral cavity and upper pharynx (mouth and throat).
L-R: Tom Zajak, PA-C; Chad DeMarche, PA-C; Dr. David Gordon; Dr. Tony Chuang; Tom Carman, President/CEO; Amy Hanson, Senior Operations Manager
Watertown, NY – On May 5, 2023, the majority of Samaritan facilities will now be mask-optional for all staff, patients, and visitors under certain criteria. This decision comes after closely watching Community Transmission levels which remain at moderate, COVID hospitalization and infection rates declining, flu rates dropping, as well as more indicators. Samaritan now safely offers a mask-optional environment in many areas, however if any of these metrics have an uptick, we could return to wearing facemasks.
The three major exceptions to this change that will remain mask-required for all staff, patients/residents and visitors are:
The Emergency Department, because of the high-risk involved with the patients needing care and maintaining crucial source control.
The Walker Center for Cancer Care, because of the weakened immune systems of the patients served.
The Samaritan Keep Home and Summit Village, because they are regulated under different guidelines.
Patients, visitors and/or healthcare personnel are to follow masking practices per unit/department when specifically indicated.
Any patient in any area who has signs or symptoms of respiratory illness or COVID-19 will be asked to wear a facemask as per Samaritan’s source control policy.
The public does not need to be masked in most Samaritan areas. Visitors who are not feeling well or have been in contact with anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 are encouraged to stay home and cannot visit patients or accompany patients to appointments.
Watertown, NY – Samaritan Medical Center is pleased to announce its DAISY and BEE Award recipients for February 2023. The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses® recognizes exemplary nursing staff, and the BEE Award honors other outstanding staff members who support patient care, both at the hospital and all outpatient clinics.
Taylor Endres, registered nurse at Car Freshner Center for Women and Children at Samaritan Medical Center received the DAISY Award. Jacqueline Henry, unit clerk at Samaritan Medical Center’s Inpatient Mental Health Unit, received the BEE Award.
Sarabrooke Mowery, PA and grateful patient at Samaritan Medical Center nominated Endres saying:
Taylor Endres, RN
“Taylor was the difference in excellent labor, delivery, and maternal after care in the 48 hours after our daughters birth. Taylor was the primary nurse during labor and delivery portion and she was phenomenal. She cared for me in a way that really showed she cared. Anything and everything to make me comfortable, she did it without hesitation. Her experience not only as a nurse, but as a mother herself, was apparent and every tip and trick was offered to me through my very painful and quick labor. When Taylor came on the next evening, out of the goodness of her heart, came by to check on baby and me, even though she does not work in the maternal ward. She was the one who listened to us and turned my care around. She listened and provided as the great nurse she is. After our concerns were raised she jumped into action and my pain was the primary focus. Within minutes she had medication to sooth my pain and an endless supply of ice diapers. Our assigned night shift nurse took the time to teach proper swaddling and baby bathing techniques. With Taylor’s care and love for her job, we were finally able to truly focus on our baby and enjoy her. Taylor is a blessing and an amazing nurse, she is one of the reasons Samaritan Labor & Delivery has the great reputation it does.”
For receiving the DAISY Award – which is an international award backed by The DAISY Foundation – Endres was presented with a certificate commending her as an extraordinary nurse, a DAISY Award pin, and a symbolic sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” which is hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe. A larger version of this sculpture has also been installed in the Healing Gardens at Samaritan Medical Center in honor of all DAISY and BEE Award winners to come. It was purchased using funds donated by the Samaritan Auxiliary.
Henry was nominated by a Robyn McGowan, RN at Samaritan Medical Center with the following statement for nomination:
Jacqueline Henry, Unit Clerk
“Jaqueline is an asset to our unit. Especially on our weekend, she is extremely helpful. She comes to the nurse’s station to give us updates, helps with the extensive phone calls, scheduling visitations, and other various tasks; allowing the nurses to focus on their own duties with patient care. She is very knowledgeable with computer skills, and help the nurses immensely. She handles every task with ease. She exemplifies Samaritan’s values: accountability, honesty, empathy, respect, and trustworthiness. She is a true team player. She is always going above and beyond to help the unit run as smoothly as possible. She is the first to offer to sit with patients who have coded when we are short-staffed or when it is unsafe for a safety aide to be off the unit with the volatile patient population. When her unit clerk duties are completed, she asks for more jobs/tasks to do within her job description. Her actions reflect great credit upon herself, IMHU, and Samaritan Medical Center.”
Henry was presented with a certificate, a BEE Award pin, and a gift bag with other tokens of gratitude.
Both awards will continue to be presented throughout the year, and nominations can be submitted by patients, families, or colleagues at any time. To make a nomination or to learn more about the Samaritan DAISY and BEE Awards, visit www.samaritanhealth.com/daisy-bee.
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About Samaritan Medical Center
Samaritan Medical Center (Watertown, New York) is a 290-bed not-for-profit community medical center, offering a full spectrum of inpatient and outpatient healthcare services. From primary and emergency care to highly specialized medical and surgical services, such as cancer treatment, neonatal intensive care, behavioral health and addiction services, and imaging services, Samaritan Medical Center and its team of healthcare professionals proudly serves the medical needs of our civilian and military community. Quality, compassion, and safety are the basic principles by which exceptional care is delivered at Samaritan.
About The DAISY Foundation
The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, by members of his family. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families. In addition to the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, the Foundation expresses gratitude to the nursing profession internationally in over 3,900 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing with recognition of direct care Nurses, Nurse-led Teams, Nurse Leaders, Nursing Faculty, Nursing Students, through the J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects and for nurses participating in medical missions. More information is available at http://www.DAISYfoundation.org.
Watertown, NY – Samaritan Medical Center announces the implementation of a free, secure, and convenient process for patients to obtain online access to medical scans and images, effective April 3, 2023. When a patient has imaging/radiology testing done at any Samaritan facility, those images and accompanying reports will be available via secure online access through our partnership with Nuance PowerShare. This system is separate from our patient portal systems. It can be accessed by the patient and any medical provider that the patient designates to see their images.
Patients will need to create a secure account with PowerShare in order to access medical scans and images. This account created provides Samaritan with consent to provide these electronic medical images to patients via this secure system. Patients can also grant access to their medical providers. This is the quickest and most convenient way to get medical images to providers.
A secure account with PowerShare will provide many benefits to patients – online access to medical images at no charge; accessibility from anywhere, at any time, with any internet-connected device; unlimited secure storage of medical images; images can be downloaded from the system to have forever; and the ability to share your images with doctors who need to see them.
To gain access to this new system, patients need only email [email protected] or call 315-785-4527 and provide their full name and date of birth. Patients can expect a response within one business day. This will start the official electronic process to gain access to PowerShare. Once an account is set up, patients will need to specify which images they are requesting. Full details are available at samaritanhealth.com/powershare.
If patients do not have access to the internet, or do not want to create a PowerShare account, the traditional method to receive images on a disc will still be available. Those without internet access can request images in-person at the Medical Records Department with a signed Release of Information form. Others may request images via email to [email protected] with a signed Release of Information form, which is available at samaritanhealth.com/release-information.
Watertown, NY – Samaritan Medical Center will no longer require COVID-19 testing prior to outpatient surgical procedures effective Saturday, April 1, 2023, in accordance with New York State Department of Health guidance. Exceptions to this are surgical patients scheduled to be an inpatient post-surgery or any surgical patient with symptoms or at the provider’s discretion. Those patients will test on the day of scheduled surgery upon arrival and admission to the hospital. All patients will be screened for any COVID-19 symptoms before the procedure. Any patient that is sick or ill will be rescheduled for their surgical procedure.
As a result of this change, Samaritan’s COVID-19 Drive-Up Testing Site at 1575 Washington Street, Watertown, will close effective April 1, 2023. Other testing sites are available at local pharmacy locations as well as North Country Family Health Center, 238 Arsenal Street, Watertown, NY, 315-775-7777. For a full listing of community-based COVID-19 testing sites, visit www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/community-based-testing-sites.
Watertown, NY – Samaritan Medical Center Foundation of Northern New York will host the 26th annual Thousand Islands Golf Classic event on Thursday & Friday, June 8th & 9th, 2023. The presenting sponsor is International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 910 & Northern New York National Electrical Contractors Association.
This year’s event features a dinner reception and live auction on Thursday, June 8th, at the Edgewood Resort. On Friday, June 9th, enjoy 18 holes of golf at the beautiful Thousand Islands Country Club. Both the Old- and Lake-Courses will be utilized. The online silent auction will begin Monday, May 15th, and will close on Thursday, June 8th.
The increased demand for mental health services in our community can be seen as Samaritan’s Emergency Department behavioral health unit patient volume has doubled this past year, and our inpatient mental health unit continues to be full. A portion of the proceeds raised from this year’s event will be dedicated to enhancing vital mental health services at Samaritan Medical Center.
Dr. Maja Lundborg-Gray to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
Watertown, New York —– Samaritan Medical Center will be hosting its ninth Physician Recognition Dinner on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. This event, supported by the Samaritan Medical Center Medical Executive Committee and Samaritan Foundation, is held annually on or around National Doctors’ Day to honor Samaritan’s active and retired physicians for their dedication.
As part of this event, one physician is selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was established to recognize a Samaritan physician for his/her leadership and service to the health and well-being of the Northern New York community. Whether in their private practice, hospital duties, Board or Medical Staff leadership positions or volunteer work, Samaritan’s physicians dedicate their time and talent to making the community a better place to live.
The 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is Maja Lundborg-Gray, M.D., an emergency medicine physician, and public health and EMS advocate. In 1998, Dr. Lundborg-Gray joined Samaritan Medical Center’s medical staff. Later that year, she founded North Country Emergency Medical Consultants, PC was formed, a private group of physicians and advanced practice providers, where she still practices today continues to serve as its President.
Dr. Lundborg-Gray was born in Manhattan to Karen, a United Nations Tour Guide and nurse, and Dr. Carl Lundborg, an Orthopedic Surgeon. She completed her Biochemistry degree at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1989. Her first career was a high school science educator at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut. It was during this time she developed a strong passion for education. In 1991, Dr. Lundborg-Gray attended NY Medical College, her father’s alma mater. Partaking in critical care medicine across all disciplines in the Emergency Department inspired her. She met her husband, Dr. Daniel Gray, in medical school and they married in 1994 at Trinity College Chapel. In 1998, she graduated from the Emergency Medicine residency at Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Dr. Lundborg-Gray has been an active member of the Watertown emergency medical community and services for the last 24 years. In 1998, Dr. Lundborg-Gray became the medical director for EVAC Air Ambulance. Since then she has been a Medical Director of North Country Regional Emergency Medical Advisory Committee and has since held many EMS medical director positions. During her tenure as Jefferson County EMS Medical Director she worked with county officials supporting LifeNet of NY’s presence in the North Country. Since 2013 she has proudly served as Medical Director to Watertown, Seneca Falls, and Potsdam LifeNet of NY bases. She is dedicated to the education of local youth regarding public health hazards and through expert collaboration with the New York Attorney General’s Office, has been credited with turning the tide on the retail sale of misbranded recreational drugs.
She is an active member of the Samaritan Foundation, Medical Staff Peer Review Committee, Stroke Committee and Trauma Committee. She supports the Samaritan residency program as a faculty supervisor. She served as Emergency Department Chair from 2002 – 2008 and also served on multiple hospital committees including the Credentials and Medical Executive Committees. Dr. Lundborg-Gray currently serves as Emergency Department Medical Director since 2011. She also is a member of the Jefferson County Health Services Advisory Board since 2014, and has previously served on the Herring College Trust Board and the Thompson Park Conservancy Board.
Dr. Lundborg-Gray and her husband, Dr. Daniel Gray, reside in Clayton and have two sons, Spencer and Maxwell.
“Our community is fortunate to have a team of exceptional physicians,” said Thomas H. Carman, President and CEO of Samaritan Medical Center. “This event is a time to include everyone in recognizing all physicians who make a difference in the lives of those around us, both inside and outside the walls of our facilities. Dr. Lundborg-Gray represents a career of achievements and advocacy efforts in emergency care and medicine for the community. She is invested in providing care during some of the most critical moments of a patient’s emergency needs, while also supporting local Emergency Management providers. Her prevention and advocacy efforts speak to her commitment to this community. We are all fortunate to have doctors such as Dr. Lundborg-Gray that have chosen to do their life’s work in Watertown.”
The Physician Recognition Dinner is being held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Watertown. This event is open to the community. Tickets are $50 per person. For more information or to RSVP, please visit www.samaritanhealth.com/physiciandinner, or call 315-785-4584.
Watertown, NY – After careful consideration, and because the COVID-19 hospitalization rates remain stable, Samaritan Medical Center announces an update to the visitation policy for Emergency Department Support Persons.
As of Monday, January 9, 2023, Emergency Department patients may designate two support persons for their emergency care visit, with only one person being present at any given time.
For safety purposes, all support persons and visitors must be in good health and screened. Driver’s license and photo ID are required at the time of visit. Most visitation is restricted to those 12 years of age or older. A parent or guardian must accompany visitors under the age of 18. Masks are required, as well as proper handwashing throughout the visit. Visitors who have recently been in quarantine or in contact with anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 are encouraged to stay home.
Watertown, NY – The Walker Center for Cancer Care announces the opening of a second linear accelerator (LINAC) to its Radiation Oncology services. The additional LINAC system will allow for greater access to this personalized, precise radiation therapy in a timely manner for patients of the Cancer Center.
“The opening of a second linear accelerator (LINAC) will increase patient access to radiation oncology treatments in our region” said Dr. Justin Budnik, Radiation Oncologist at the Walker Center. The number of patient radiation treatments has increased from 5,702 in 2020 to 7,102 in 2022. It is anticipated that in 2023, the increase in patient treatments will continue. “The need for a second LINAC has been driven by unprecedented growth in the practice here at the Walker Center for Cancer Care, and will ensure that all patients who are in need of radiotherapy will have timely access to treatment, whatever their diagnosis is.”
For patients, this increase in specialized services means less time waiting from their first visit to the start of treatment, which is critical in cancer care. The second LINAC will ensure that radiation therapy for patients with high acuity lesions (such as those causing pain, or pressing on critical body structures, or blocking airways or blood flow, etc.) can start treatment within a matter of a few days, rather than a few weeks.
“Our hope is that with two LINACS in service we will be able to better meet the needs of our community, and that treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction with the care furnished at our center will improve as a result” states Dr. Budnik.
Watertown, N.Y. – The COVID-19 pandemic may have changed many facets of healthcare, but it did not deter the tenacity of the incredible Medical Staff and recruitment team at Samaritan to bring highly-trained physicians to this community. Samaritan was once again, after a three-year hiatus, able to celebrate and welcome its new physicians at the annual New Physician Reception, which was held on November 9th. We are proud to introduce these fine physicians.
For most of our new physicians, this is their first experience in the North Country. This may also be their first experience in rural healthcare. One brings their talent to our area through our close relationship with Fort Drum.
Please join us in welcoming the following physicians to our community, and our medical facilities. Click on any physician to learn more.
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