Franklin Memorial Hospital Caregiver of the Year Announced

Honors physical therapist Rebecca Gagnon-Pillsbury

Farmington¾

 

Physical therapist Rebecca Gagnon-Pillsbury, MSPT, ATC, CLT, has been named Caregiver of the Year for Franklin Memorial Hospital (FMH) according to Gerald Cayer, executive vice president. Cayer made the announcement during a recent manager’s meeting, praising Gagnon-Pillsbury’s 17 years of service at Franklin Memorial Hospital.

 

“When the FMH Physical Rehabilitation Department was ready to develop a new lymphedema program in 2004 with a focus to meet the post-operative needs of breast cancer patients, Rebecca stepped up to challenge of building this program from the ground up: developing documentation tools to assure compliance; determining supply needs; and implementing a computer program that is used to monitor patients’ fluid measurements,” Cayer said. “This program has proved to be successful for all lymphedema patients despite its initial focus on breast cancer, treating upper and lower extremities and neck lymphatic drainage issues.”

 

Gagnon-Pillsbury’s nomination cited that she has also spent a significant amount of time educating the medical staff about early diagnosis, appropriate referrals, and lymphedema care and treatments. Due to her efforts, a second therapist became certified to assist with this successful program. Rebecca serves as a mentor to this individual as she has set a very high standard of care for our patients. 

 

Marie Wade, FMH Physical Rehabilitation Department director, added, “It has been an incredible experience over the years to see Rebecca grow and develop from a new graduate athletic trainer to an experienced and highly skilled physical therapist with unique expertise. She is caring, considerate, and confident with these patients in assisting them with this rather complicated diagnosis. These patients have survived cancer and now are dealing with this longstanding complication. They are usually seen in two-hour sessions, requiring extensive hands-on manual lymph drainage for the entire treatment.”

 

“This annual award honors a caregiver who on a daily basis demonstrates extraordinary commitment to the delivery of care to patients and their families,” said Cayer. “Each hospital is allowed only one applicant to be considered for statewide recognition, so being nominated is truly an honor.”

 

As the FMH nominee, Gagnon-Pillsbury was considered among 38 candidates for this year’s Maine Hospital Association (MHA) Caregiver of the Year Award that was announced on June 18 at the MHA Summer Forum.

 

Dr. Charles Hendricks, a surgeon at Mount Desert Island Hospital, whose humanitarian work includes providing surgical services to disadvantaged, underserved South American populations was selected as this year’s MHA Caregiver of the Year.