Grantham NurseIs Harvest Hill Administrator

Lebanon — Amy Thornton, of Grantham, has been hired as the administrator of Harvest Hill, an assisted living retirement community on the campus of Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital.

Thornton, who joined APD in February, oversees the daily management of Harvest Hill. She reports to Todd Miller, president and CEO of APD Lifecare, the parent company of Harvest Hill and The Woodlands.

Thornton “brings exceptional experience, skills, and knowledge that will allow us to continue the tradition of excellence that residents at Harvest Hill have come to enjoy and expect,” Miller said in a news release from APD Lifecare.

Thornton has 25 years of skilled nursing experience, leadership and management to the role, the release said. Most recently, she was director of nursing at Gifford’s Menig Nursing Home. Previously, she worked as administrative director of patient care services and behavioral health at Franklin (N.H.) Regional Hospital.

Thornton is pursuing a master’s degree in health care administration at Southern New Hampshire University, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing. She holds an advanced nursing leadership certificate from St. Anselm College in Manchester.

New London WomanNamed Director of Provider Practices

Windsor — Hannah Houghton, of New London, has been named director of provider practices at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center.

For the past five years, Houghton was the hospital’s specialties practice manager.

In her new role, she will be responsible for the overall practice management of both surgical and primary care practices at the hospital. Her responsibilities will include personnel management, staff workflow, quality improvement projects, clinical function monitoring, budgeting and recruitment efforts.

Houghton “is committed to helping us increase consistency in practice and efficiency in utilization of resources,” Paul Calandrella, chief operating officer, said in a hospital news release.

Prior to joining the hospital in 2012, Houghton was practice manager at Associates in Surgery and Gastroenterology in Claremont. She is a 2002 graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock DoctorReceives Patriot Award

Lebanon — Dr. Brian Spence, an anesthesiologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, recently received a Patriot Award from Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. Spence was nominated for the award by Dartmouth-Hitchcock anesthesiologist Dr. Christopher Yen, who is a major in the Army National Guard.

The award, given to individual supervisors, reflects the efforts made to support citizens serving in the Guard and Reserve through measures such as flexible schedules, time off before and after deployment, caring for families, and granting leaves of absence, if needed.

Spence manages the scheduling for the anesthesiology department, a task that “is challenging, due to limited resources and the dynamic nature of staff availability relative to demands,” Yen said in his nomination. “Brian constantly adjusts the schedule in creative and thoughtful ways to accommodate my absences for military obligations and does so in a supportive and fair manner.”

Spence, who serves on the D-H board of governors and is also a physician trustee, called the award “a wonderful surprise,” and said he accepted it on behalf of the Department of Anesthesiology.

“It is our entire department, not me individually, that has demonstrated a commitment to assume extra patient-care and call responsibilities, sometimes on short notice, to support Dr. Yen and our other colleagues who serve in our country’s armed forces,” Spence said. “I was humbled to be nominated by Dr. Yen and feel that by supporting his and others’ ability to serve is only a small way of saying ‘thank you’ for their time and service.”

Employers’ support is “paramount in keeping our military trained and ready,” said Brig. Gen. Thomas Spencer, who attended the award ceremony. “It is employers such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock that provide the support that our service members need.”

Grantham Resident to LeadAPD Human Resources Department

Lebanon — Colleen Ericson, of Grantham, has been named director of human resources at Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital.

Before joining APD, Ericson was the team leader of organizational development and training at Hypertherm. She also worked at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, managing the education and communication program in the department of Value Performance, Measurement and Patient Safety. Ericson received her undergraduate degree from St. Bonaventure University. She holds a master’s degree in social work from Simmons College’s School of Social Work, and an MBA from Simmons’ School of Management.

Ericson “brings significant experience to the position that will serve to strengthen our workforce,” Brenda Blair, APD’s chief administrative officer, said in a news release.

White River Junction VA PhysicianReceives Fulbright Scholar Award

White River Junction — Dr. Louise Davies, of the White River Junction VA Medical Center, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program grant to Kobe, Japan, and Oxford University in England from the Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Davies will conduct research at Kuma Hospital and Oxford University as part of a project to investigate the problem of overdiagnosis, particularly as it relates to thyroid cancer, and the use of narrative data as a tool to support education choices by patients and clinicians.

Davies is among more than 1,200 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research and provide expertise abroad for the 2017-2018 academic year through the program, according to a news release from the Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Fulbright recipients are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields.

Geisel Professor Honored

Hanover — Dr. Mark Creager has been named the Anna Gundlach Huber Professor in Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

Creager, a professor of medicine and surgery at Geisel since 2015, also directs the Heart and Vascular Center within the Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system. He is the immediate past president of the American Heart Association.

“Dr. Creager’s passion for improving the cardiovascular health of his patients and the community, for high-impact research, and for offering the best training and education to our students and residents represents the very best of academic medicine,” Duane Compton, dean of the Geisel School of Medicine, said in a news release from the medical school.

The professorship was established in 1984 by Gertrude H. Mertens to honor her mother. Gertrude Mertens and her sister, Marion Huber, had established another chair in 1981 to honor their father, Joseph M. Huber.

Members of the family also established the Mertens-Huber Scholarship Fund, which is Geisel’s largest scholarship endowment.

“The family’s connection with Dartmouth began in the 1960s, when Gertrude’s husband was treated with such warmth by a doctor on the Dartmouth faculty that they wanted to ensure that future generations of medical students would learn to give such care,” the release said. “Since then, members of the family have made numerous generous gifts to the Geisel School, especially to scholarships.”

Creager said it was a great honor to be appointed to the professorship.

“I am very grateful to the Mertens-Huber family, who cares deeply about improving patient care and training highly skilled, compassionate physicians,” he said. “These precepts form the foundation of my role as a professor for Geisel and as director of the Heart and Vascular Center.”

New London Hospital EmployeeReceives Immunizations Award

New London — Nona Murphy, a certified medical assistant from New London Hospital’s Pediatric Care Center, has received the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ excellence in childhood immunizations award.

The department’s immunization program awards recognize the exceptional contributions made to raising immunization awareness or implementing protocols to improve vaccine efficiencies, according to a news release from the hospital.

Murphy was nominated for her work in developing and implementing a new workflow recall process that decreases late immunizations and missed appointments.

Dartmouth-HitchcockIs ‘Fit-Friendly’ Workplace

Lebanon — Dartmouth-Hitchcock has been designated a Gold Fit-Friendly Worksite by the American Heart Association.

American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said Dartmouth-Hitchcock is “among an elite group of awardees” for the initiative, according to a news release from the health system.

“Workplace health continues to be an important way to improve the well-being of the workforce, and your organization is a leader in this effort,” Brown wrote earlier this year. “Thank you for your role in building a culture of health and providing employees with healthy choices.”

Employers received the Fit-Friendly Worksite designation for “creating a culture of health in the workplace through progressive leadership and employee wellness initiatives,” according to the organization’s website.

Windsor Nurse is Employee of the Month

Windsor — Ruth Doiron, of Windsor, has been named employee of the month at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center.

“Ruth is a respected, dependable member of our care team,” Kim Ambrose, nurse manager, said in a hospital news release. “She is always willing to help her colleagues and is warm and understanding with patients.We are very fortunate to have Ruth on our team and are happy to see her receive the recognition she deserves.”

Doiron joined the Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center nursing staff in 2010.

— Compiled by Aimee Caruso

Correction

Dr. Mark Creager was recently named the Anna Gundlach Huber Professor in Medicine at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Members of the same family also funded the Mertens-Huber Scholarship Fund, the largest scholarship endowment at Geisel. The professorship was incorrectly described in an earlier version of this column.