Dr. Teresa Fitzharris is leaving, to find a position that allows her to spend more time with her family. Dr. Kimona Alin, M.D, Phd, will be coming on board in October, and we'll have more details about her in the next Cottage Door, but we can tell you that she's climbed Mount Kilamanjaro and marathons she's completed in her native Sweden and in NYC, where she's lived for many years. Nurse practitioner Ann Zaveruha has been hired, and part of her responsibilities will include covering for nurse practitioner Danielle Basta, who will be on maternity leave this summer. Director of Nursing Mary Urquhart is leaving to work in an Intensive Care Unit at another hospital.

It was a few years ago that I predicted that the nationwide nursing shortage would hit Grace Cottage and I'm sorry to say that I was correct. Pharmacists, radiology technologists, and nurses are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Horror stories abound, particularly in urban areas, of patients being turned away from emergency rooms because there is insufficient staff to serve them. Fortunately, that has yet to happen here, but with the new rules and regulations being enacted in Washington, I sometimes wonder if the legislators really understand what an adverse impact their actions can …and will… have on patient care. They're truly taking the "care" part out of healthcare, even as we at Grace Cottage work hard every day to keep it there.