New providers help to meet area health care needs From Spotlight on Health - Fall 2010

In spite of a national shortage of primary care doctors, CentraCare Health System has been able to recruit to the community several new physicians, some with very specialized skills.

Family medicine physicians Maureen Kemper, MD, and Michelle Scharnott, DO, joined, respectively, CentraCare Clinic - Health Plaza and CentraCare Clinic - Heartland in St. Cloud. Stephen Turner, DO, and Bobbie Jo Bertram, CNP, joined CentraCare Health System in Melrose. A Family Medicine provider often is considered the “quarterback” for the health care team as he or she can direct and coordinate a patient’s care for a lifetime -- referring to specialists as needed.

Specialty Care
Added to our “special teams” are several new physicians who provide expanded care and some new health services to Central Minnesota. Dahlia Elkadi, MD, MSC, PhD, Girum Lemma, MD, and Hilary Ufearo, MD, joined the Coborn Cancer Center team, bringing the number of medical oncologists to seven.

Gastroenterologist Mark Virtue, MD, joined CentraCare Digestive Center and brings a new service called endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) to the area. EUS provides more accurate diagnosis and staging of cancers of the esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas and colon. Dr. Virtue works closely with surgeons and medical oncologists to determine the best treatment needed for cancer patients.

To meet the growing need for kidney care, the CentraCare Kidney Program has added Benjamin Parker, MD, to its nephrology team. Our seven nephrologists provide care in St. Cloud and at nine other Central Minnesota locations.

Bradley Edgington, DO, joined CentraCare Clinic – River Campus, specializing in critical care and pulmonary medicine for conditions affecting the lungs, such as asthma, cystic fibrosis and lung cancer.

Perinatologist Thomas McNanley, MD, expands St. Cloud Hospital’s Perinatology Clinic to a full-time, locally based program that provides a full complement of level II ultrasound, first-trimester screening, amniocentesis testing and genetic counseling for high-risk OB patients.

Denise Buruse, DO, is the medical director of the new CentraCare Wound Center, which offers the latest in hyperbaric medicine to aggressively treat problem wounds and promote rapid healing. State-of-the-art technology will be used to provide advanced care to patients with chronic wounds and conditions approved for hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Cardiologist Michael Rich, MD, joined the Central Minnesota Heart Center. He will provide an extension of the Heart Center’s nationally rated care in the Brainerd area.

CentraCare Clinic also recruited several advanced-practice providers who work closely with physicians to improve access while providing high-quality patient care. They are: Terry Evers, CNP, internal medicine; Nora Kain, PA-C, neurosurgery; Amber Peterson, MS, genetics; and Mary Ann Heinicke, CNNP, neonatology.

CentraCare also added six new physicians and three nurse practitioners (NPs) to its hospitalist service. These internal medicine physicians and NPs provide care in the hospital setting only and help to alleviate the on-call needs of clinic-based physicians so they can spend more time seeing patients in the clinic. They include Arihant Dalal, MD, Mahesh Dangal, MD, Khadir Kakal, MD, Shweta Sharma, MD, Mary Joy Sia Su, MD, Jeremy Skramsted, MD and Chelsey Konetzko, CFNP, Betsy Moga, CFNP, and Kaylle Schmit, ANP.

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