Category Archives: Healthcare

by Christine Graf

During the past decade, the number of board-certified physician assistants (PAs) has increased more than 75 percent, with more than 168,000 currently practicing in the field. Each year, PAs are responsible for more than 500 million patient interactions, collaborating with physicians and surgeons to diagnose and treat patients.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the PA profession will increase 28 percent from 2021 to 2031. Currently, the demand for PAs is so high that 75 percent of graduates receive multiple job offers upon graduation.

In the late 1960s, Duke University established the country’s first physician assistant program. There are now 245 accredited programs in the United States, one of them at Albany Medical College where 42 PAs graduate each year from the 28-month program. Established in 1972, Albany Med’s PA program began as a collaboration with Hudson Valley Community College.

By Jill Nagy

The Workplace Health and Wellness Council of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce tries to spread a culture of wellness in the business community. An all-volunteer committee plans monthly meetings with guest speakers on timely topics.

The May meeting, Wellness from Head to Toe, focused on mental health as well as physical wellness. 

“It was a really beautiful panel,” said Ava Kanninen, the council liaison and the chamber’s membership chair. “It was beautiful to see these women calling back to the other speakers’ messages,” she added. 

All three speakers that month were women. Erin Kivitski, a psychologist and wellness coordinator, moderated the program. Speakers were Susan McManus, a mental health and addiction specialist; Cathy Reichen, a physical therapist who manages the return to work program at Glens Falls Hospital; and Lyndsey Brainard, who discussed the importance of access to nourishing food.

The June meeting will observe Pride Month with a look at LBGTQ health issues, led by Pam Cardinale of Lower Adirondack Pride. July’s meeting will focus on gun safety. In August, the council will work with the Glens Falls Collaborative on a celebration of city parks. Earlier meetings this year examined autism awareness, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer awareness. 

By Christine Graf

For the past 45 years, Constance “Conni” Tucker has been volunteering her time, serving the community as a member of the Bay Ridge Rescue Squad. Tucker joined the squad in 1979, receiving her EMS certification while attending nursing school. Working her way up the ladder, she was certified as a paramedic in the 1990s.

The daughter of a City of Glens Falls firefighter, Tucker describes herself as a “nurturer by trade.”

“When I was a kid, I brought home stray dogs, stray cats, stray people—anyone who needed help. That’s how I ended up in health care.”

After working as a board certified emergency room nurse for 25 years, Tucker left nursing, embarking on a career in real estate. A licensed real estate agent, she works for Howard Hanna Real Estate Services in Queensbury.

“I was suffering from significant burnout after being in the ER for so long, and I found that real estate was a different way of taking care of people,” she said.

Through it all, Tucker has remained a fixture at Bay Ridge, one of three ambulance squads that serve the Town of Queensbury. In 2023, two of the squads—Bay Ridge and North Queensbury—joined forces, now operating as one agency with a combined board of directors.  

“It’s always been my hope that the three rescue squads in the Town of Queensbury would become one rescue squad. It’s a goal I have had a hand in working towards for over 20 years. By combining the agencies, you are able to give better care to the residents. That’s always been the goal,” said Tucker.

By Susan Elise Campbell

Over his 33-year career at Glens Falls Hospital, Paul Scimeca, president and CEO since January 2022, has seen dramatic changes, both at the hospital and in the community.

These changes are shifting more of the hospital’s attention to the needs of seniors and to behavioral transformations among the population in general, according to Scimeca.

“The community we are privileged to care for is aging,” he said. “As people grow older and live longer, we need to focus on chronic disease in a way that continues to evolve with the population and mirrors the needs of the community.”

Within the past three years Glens Falls Hospital developed a state-designated Center of Excellence for Alzheimers Disease and received certification for its Stroke Center, he said. The demand for these health services follows the population curve.

“The C.R. Wood Cancer Center is one of the first projects I worked on when I came to the Hospital more than 30 years ago,” he said. “The center continues to grow as it becomes more successful in identifying, treating and helping individuals of all ages survive cancer.”

Chronic decease and mental health services are of equal priority to the hospital and are equally challenging, according to Scimeca.

“Emergency care has changed significantly over the years,” said Scimeca. “Some conditions have to be treated immediately, so care starts right in the emergency department.”

One of the current priorities, and a personal priority for Scimeca as well, is to renovate and expand the emergency department, since “it was not built for the kind of care that must be delivered today,” he said.

“The facility is currently constrained functionally by the design of the department,” Scimeca said. “The hospital is at the beginning stages of planning for both a slight expansion and a full renovation.”  

Hudson Headwaters Health Network has launched a new model of patient care at the West Mountain Campus in Queensbury and at  its Moreau Family Health.

Known as team care, the cutting-edge approach is designed to deliver more personalized care for patients and improve work-life balance for health center staff.

Officials said in the team care model, each patient continues to have their primary care provider, but in addition, they are also assigned to a team of providers, nurses and administrative staff.  The entire team gets to know the patient so even if their primary care provider is unavailable, the patient can count on consistent, personalized care during their visit. 

The phone system, check-in and other processes have also been updated to provide a more efficient and streamlined experience.  Core teams are supported by behavioral health providers, care managers, clinical pharmacists and other specially trained staff. The model is designed to put the patient back at the center of their health care, according to Hudson Headwaters

By Susan Elise Campbell

By educating and supporting children, their families, and teachers, Melissa Seale, PMHNP/BC aims to promote mental and emotional wellness for the entire community system around Glens Falls. 

According to Seale, the need for pediatric psychiatry is even greater in the North Country than the nation in general, and she is facing the challenge through her new private practice, Well Child Pediatric Psychiatric Services.

Seale is a board-certified nurse practitioner who said she is “very vested in the mental wellness of the Glens Falls community. I live here, raise my family here, and want to give back.”

The practice is less than two months old and appointments have filled quickly, she said. Many patients followed her from Glens Falls Pediatrics, which she joined after starting her career at the Center for Children and Families, also based in Glens Falls. Well Child is Seale’s first independent practice.

Seale said she knew of one behavioral center in the area with a wait list of 500.

“Pediatric psychiatry is gaining more focus as a discipline,” she said. “The pandemic has been a huge stressor in adults and the effects have trickled down to kids in the form of anxiety and depression.”

Practices are facing a growing litany of issues ranging from toddler tantrums to school shootings, she said. 

“Because of social media and all the news outlets, I see kids inundated with negative information,” said Seale. “Bullying has long existed. But children used to be able to go home and escape it. Not today.”

“Social media disconnects young people from the face-to-face interaction that human beings need,” she said. “Even parents are on the phone more, disconnected from their children.”