A New Light

“Open up, give me a big ahhh,” Sheena Whittaker, MD, a pediatrician at Northern Light Pediatrics in Ellsworth asks of her 12-year old patient, Ellis, as she shines a light in his mouth. They are in a pediatrics exam room where Ellis is getting a check up. The windows allow in a generous amount of light; the walls are warm yellow and decorated with Dr. Seuss decals like the Cat in the Hat. Dr. Whittaker wears many hats too. Not only is she a pediatrician, but she is also the senior physician executive for Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital in Ellsworth.

“Medicine is very controlled, and it’s very scientific and careful, and it should be; but kids bring a fun aspect to it,” Dr. Whittaker explains. “If we can fortify children to be strong mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically, we’re going to produce stronger, kinder, healthier children, a better adult population, and a stronger community.”

Dr. Whittaker may be based at Maine Coast Hospital, but she is part of Northern Light Health, formerly Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems. In addition to changing its name, Northern Light Health has re-identified its priorities and is becoming more integrated across the entire system which spans from Portland to Presque Isle and Greenville to Blue Hill.

Dr. Whittaker sees the move to Northern Light Health as a step in the right direction that helps improve patient care. “Being united medically means we have resources from the whole Northern Light Health system. Whether we’re at Northern Light Maine Coast, Northern Light Blue Hill, or Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, we have access to all of the specialty services easily, consecutively, consistently. So, it doesn’t matter which hospital a patient walks into, they are receiving the best medical care they possibly can get,” explains Dr. Whittaker.
 
Michelle Hood, FACHE, president and CEO of Northern Light Health, and Matt Weed, senior vice president and chief strategy officer have not only worked to implement this new brand identity but to spread the message of what it means beyond the name change. They also called on leaders and front line employees throughout the system to help.

“At Northern Light Health, we want to make healthcare work for everyone, whether that’s an individual or a community. We’re going to roll up our sleeves and bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm to our continuing work,” explains Michelle. “We’re raising the bar and that is a simple but substantive way of saying we can’t rest. We’re always looking for a better way to do things. Our system is very broad not just in geography but in the types of services that we offer, and we want to meet people where they are.”

Northern Light Health is accomplishing this by making investments in telemedicine, converting to one unified electronic health record system that links all member hospitals together, and creating new clinical relationships with world-class organizations like Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

“A rebrand to Northern Light Health spans time—it celebrates how far we as a system have come, but it also creates a single shared starting line for where we need to go next,” Matt explains. As chief strategy officer, Matt was instrumental in the rebranding effort which was a necessary evolution as healthcare in America is moving toward integrated systems. “This in part is driven by economics and financial sustainability—in all states including Maine, the healthcare industry is being required to coordinate expertise in a way that avoids unnecessary costs.”

Businesses, governments, and individual consumers are looking to contract with systems for their healthcare needs because this is how they will get the highest quality at the lowest cost. More importantly still, Matt feels that what people want is to know that when the need arises, they or their loved one will receive competent, compassionate care.

“This is the brand promise,” concludes Matt. “It’s what our neighbors and our family members and a person we’re meeting for the first time can expect when they come to our physicians and to our hospitals, and when they interact with any other person or service in the system. If we’re not doing it perfectly today, we’re motivated and driven by the brand promise to improve; and if we are doing it perfectly today, the brand promise says we wake up and do it again tomorrow.”