CMHVI to offer blood pressure screenings

Lewiston, Maine - The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute will sponsor a bake sale and free blood pressure screenings as part of its observation of American Heart Month in February.

The bake sale will be held on Go Red for Women Day, February 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Central Maine Medical Center 60 High Street Main Lobby. Proceeds will benefit the Central Maine Heart Walk.

A special blood pressure screening will be offered on February 21 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Central Maine Heart Associates (CMHA) offices on the ground floor of the 60 High Street building. Anyone wanting to participate in the blood pressure screening should inquire at the CMHA reception desk. CMHA staff will perform the screenings.

The Central Maine Medical Center Health and Fitness Center offers free blood pressure screenings every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

For information about other CMHVI American Heart Month activities, visit the events calendar at www.cmmc.org

Annual Heart to Heart Conference set for February 1 at CMMC‏

Lewiston, Maine - The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute will present its 14th Annual “A Heart to Heart” Conference on February 1 at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

The event will feature presentations by three healthcare professionals, each focusing on a different aspect of cardiac disease prevention or management.

Doors open at 8 a.m., when students from the CMMC College of Nursing and Health Professions will offer free blood pressure screenings. Cholesterol screenings will also be available. Representatives of the CMMC Health and Fitness Center and Central Maine Heart Associates will be on hand to offer individual coaching on cardiac disease risk reduction.

The morning’s schedule of events will kick off at 8:30 a.m. with opening remarks by Susan Horton, executive director of the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute.

Registered dietitian Amanda Ettinger will follow Horton with a presentation entitled “Savor the Flavor, Without the Salt”.

She will discuss how excessive salt consumption has been linked to numerous health issues, including heart attack and stroke. Her presentation will consider how much of the average person’s salt intake comes from food consumed in restaurants and bought in grocery stores. She will provide tips for eating healthier and tastier food without so much salt.

Ettinger, a licensed clinical dietitian, graduated from Mount Saint Vincent University with bachelor’s degrees in accounting and applied human nutrition. She completed an integrated dietetic internship. Her background includes work in diabetes education, long-term care, bariatric surgery, food service management, and as a clinical dietitian in a number of small, rural hospitals. She works with cancer patients at Central Maine Medical Center and through the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer, Hope and Healing.

At about 10 a.m., Daphne Russell from United Ambulance,  and an emergency cardiac patient will discuss “Calling 9-1-1 and What I Need To Know”.

Russell and the patient will talk about what happens when someone calls 9-1-1 and why it is important for someone to call when immediate help is needed.

Russell is a prevention and wellness coordinator for United Ambulance (UA) in Lewiston, where she has worked as a paramedic since 2003. She was one of the first Maine paramedics to earn a Community Paramedic Certificate and her primary focus has been assisting in the development of UA’s Home Visit Program.

From about 10:45 a.m. until noon, Joanne LeBrun, Director of Tri County Emergency Medical Services, will talk about “Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Your Last Best Chance”.

LeBrun’s topic will consider what response is required when someone collapses and is in cardiac arrest. Her presentation will help program participants learn how to quickly recognize a cardiac arrest and spring into action. She will teach those at the event to perform CPR, thus giving the stricken person their “last best chance” for survival. She will also discuss what to expect when the ambulance arrives.

LeBrun is director of Tri-County Emergency Medical Services. She is a graduate of St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt., and earned a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Southern Maine in Portland. She has been involved in Maine EMS since 1973.

The 14th Annual “A Heart to Heart Conference” is open to public and will be held in the Chairmen’s Room on the lower lever of the 12 High Street Medical Office Building in Lewiston, adjacent to Central Maine Medical Center. There is no charge for participation. Seating is limited to the first 100 registrants.

To register or for more information, call 795-8448. Registrations can also be made via email at prevention@cmhc.org or by visiting the events calendar at www.cmmc.org

CMMC surgeon named to Practice Council

Lewiston, Maine - Michael A. Ricci, M.D., chief of vascular surgery at the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute in Lewiston, has been appointed to the Society for Vascular Surgery's Clinical Practice Council.

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) is a not-for-profit professional medical society, composed primarily of vascular surgeons, that seeks to advance excellence and innovation in vascular health through education, advocacy, research, and public awareness. SVS is the national advocate for 4,500 specialty-trained vascular surgeons and other medical professionals who are dedicated to the prevention and cure of vascular system diseases, including aortic aneurysms, carotid artery disease, and peripheral vascular disease.

The SVS Clinical Practice Council assists with the development of programs and products to help members successfully manage changing practice patterns, reduced reimbursement, competitive pressures and the business aspects of practice.

As a council member, Ricci will help monitor the vascular surgery practice environment, identify issues that need SVS attention, and recommend strategic initiatives. He will oversee the work of reporting committees and ad hoc work groups focusing on clinical practice matters. He will also help review clinical practice sections of the SVS website.

Prior to joining the greater Lewiston-Auburn medical community last year, Ricci practiced at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vt., the major teaching hospital for the University of Vermont College of Medicine. He also provided consultative services at Alice Hyde Hospital in Malone, N.Y., and Canton-Potsdam Hospital in Potsdam, N.Y.

He is a colonel in Air National Guard and was recently appointed state air surgeon for the Vermont Air National Guard. (State air surgeon is the top physician position in each state’s Air National Guard.) He has served with the “Green Mountain Boys” since 2003, most recently as commander of the 158th Medical Group. He has twice deployed to Balad, Iraq, and once to Bagram, Afghanistan, where he served as a flight surgeon and a vascular and trauma surgeon in Air Force theater hospitals.

Ricci has extensive experience as a practicing surgeon and surgical educator.  He started the first vascular lab in Vermont and initiated the endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms in that region. At the University of Vermont College of Medicine, he most recently served as the first Clinical Simulation Laboratory director. He is a professor of surgery emeritus at the University of Vermont, where he worked for 23 years.

He is co-author of more than 100 scientific articles on vascular surgery, telemedicine, simulation, and operating room safety.

Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute Heart Month Activities

Lewiston, Maine - The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute will mark Heart Month (February) with a variety of activities.

February 1: Go Red for Women: The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute staff will wear something red in support of the American Heart Association’s campaign to raise awareness of women and cardiovascular disease. The 60 High Street lobby fountain will be lighted in red. Heart dress pins will be available. Donations to the American Heart Association will be accepted. Pins will be available on CMHVI’s Single-Stay Unit, Central Maine Heart Associates offices, Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, and at Central Maine Medical Center’s Health and Fitness Center.

February 2: 13th Annual A Heart to Heart Conference: “10 Years Forward: The Latest in Cardiovascular Care”, featuring presentations by three cardiovascular care specialists, each focusing on the many innovations that have been developed in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the heart and circulatorysystem. Other speakers will discuss reiki and healthy eating.

The doctors addressing developments inn cardiovascular are cardiothoracic surgeon Carmine Frumiento, M.D., vascular surgeon Allan M. Ingraham, M.D., and cardiologist Dervilla McCann, M.D. McCann will focus some of her presentation on women and heart disease.

Reiki, a Japanese technique for stress reduction, will be the topic of a presentation by Meredith Kendall, R.N.

Registered dietitian Kathryn Gosselin will discuss “Healthy Eating”.

Free blood pressure and cholesterol screenings will also be available.

The Heart to Heart conference will be held from 8 a.m. to noon in the Chairmen’s Room on the lower lever of the 12 High Street Medical Office Building in Lewiston, adjacent to CentralMaine Medical Center. There

Free varicose vein screening‏

Free varicose vein screening‏


Lewiston, Maine - The Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute will host an information session followed by free vein screenings on June 20.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Carmine Frumiento, M.D., will speak about the current procedures available to reduce the discomfort and appearance of varicose veins. He will also introduce Michael Ricci, M.D., CMHVI’s newest vascular surgeon.

The information session will be offered from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the first-floor Young Wing conference room at CMHVI, 60 High Street, Lewiston. The screenings will follow from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the CMHVI Cardiovascular Diagnostic Center, also located on the first floor at 60 High Street.

The screenings are for women between 35 and 64 years of age and men age 40 and up.

The free screening service is available by appointment only. Call 753-3916 to schedule an appointment.