OB/GYN Offices Open at North Adams Regional
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The doctors are switching parent organizations from Williamstown Medical Associates to Northern Berkshire Healthcare.
"We're going to be the same people, with the same staff and it'll feel the same," said Dr. Susan Yates at the open house for the practice's new home on Thursday. "Our goals have always been the same. We're just taking the hospital entity and our practice entity and combining them. "
Starting on Monday, the two doctors — Yates and Charles O'Neill — and two certified nurse midwives Robin Rivinus and Carol Bryan will move into a third-floor wing at NARH. Boasting eight exam rooms, four offices and easy accessibility to the maternity and surgical units, the new space will suit the growing practice well, said Bob Calway, NARH's vice president of physician services and business development.
"The proximity to services is definitely an advantage and being in the hospital, the practice shares our attention to quality patient care and service," Calway said.
Discussion concerning a move from WMA began more than 15 months ago, Calway said, amid fears that "skyrocketing" malpractice insurance for obstetricians would force the Berkshire staple to close its doors, as many other community practices had done.
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With a goal of "stabilizing and then growing" the practice, Northern Berkshire Healthcare — NARH's parent organization — expects to eventually add more staff to the practice and possibly extend the hours of operation.
"The biggest benefit is the economic power of the hospital to help us with capital needs," said Yates, who noted that Northern Berkshire Obstetrics and Gynecology was able to hire Bryan in March thanks to the partnership with the hospital. "Expansion and growth and providing the services that the community needs is what this is all about."
Yates said merging with the hospital will allow the practice to become economically sufficient at a later date.
"It's an honor for us to help [Northern Berkshire Obstetrics and Gynecology] transition to being a practice in the hospital. Knowing we can keep this service available means we're doing our job to help the community," said NBH President and CEO Richard T. Palmisano III.
For Rivinus, the move will hopefully allow the practice to expand its offerings in specialized areas like perinatal psychology.
"I'm hoping we can provide more services that benefit women's health — an integrated model of women's health care," said Rivinus, who is an advocate for treating the "whole package."
"We start at the heart and move out from there. It's not just symptom management," she said.
According to Rivinus, the practice is one of the only in the state that offers integrated medicine programs, which focuses on emotional well-being as much as physical health.
"Now, there's more of an institutional awareness of having people with these skill sets and I hope we'll see growth here. It's an unexpressed need because women may not even know they need it," said Rivinus.
As the practice looks forward to its first week in its new location, Yates said that change is expected but the fundamentals remain the same.
"This is about the future of obstetrics but at the same time, I'm in the career of helping babies get born and we're going to continue you that for years to come," she said.
Edited on May 10, 2008, for clarification.
