ROCKPORT, ME – Pen Bay Medical Center (PBMC) is excited to welcome Brien Davis, FNP, a primary care provider who has owned Hope Health Family Practice in Camden for many years. Davis will join Pen Bay Family Medicine on March 1 after he closes Hope Health at the end of February.
Davis, who also owns Hope Orchards in the Town of Hope, said that joining PBMC will allow him to continue working with patients he has come to know so well over the years. “It is important to me to maintain continuity of care for my patients while providing them with the benefits of being associated with PBMC and the larger MaineHealth system.”
Two other providers at Hope Health, Michelle Kinney, FNP, and Kristie Profenno, NP-C, have decided to pursue other opportunities.
Said Mark Eggena, MD, PhD, the chief medical officer at PBMC: “Brien and Hope Health have been an integral and well respected part of the health care ecosystem in our community for many years. We are thrilled that Brien will continue to serve the community as a member of the clinical team at PBMC.”
Dr. Eggena said former Hope Health patients who choose to receive care at PBMC or at Waldo County General Hospital (WCGH) will continue to enjoy personalized health care. He said they will also benefit from greater access to diagnostic and specialty services available at both hospitals and through MaineHealth.
Consistent with its mission to provide high quality health care to our coastal communities, PBMC and WCGH continue to work hard to put in place the resources necessary to welcome as many Hope Health patients as possible.
“We are doing everything possible to ensure that we can accept everyone who wants to receive health care at PBMC or WCGH and continue to aggressively recruit new providers,” said Dr. Eggena. “We are fortunate in that we have grown the number of primary care providers at both hospitals in recent years.”
“It’s hard to overstate our commitment to expanding primary care as the best way to improve the health of our communities,” said Dr. Eggena. “Our actions around hiring providers and building the new Health Center on the campus of PBMC bears this out, and it remains a priority for everyone at PBMC and WCGH.”
Medical records for Davis’ patients will transfer automatically to PBMC. Patients with appointments scheduled from March 1 on can see Davis in the new Health Center at 15 Anchor Drive, Suite 201 on the Rockport campus of PBMC. Please contact Pen Bay Family Medicine at 201-301-5900.
Those Hope Health patients who saw Michelle Kinney and Kristie Profenno and wish to receive care at PBMC or WCGH should go the hospitals’ websites, pbmc.org/newpatients or wcgh.org/newpatients and identify a primary care provider who is accepting new patients. Then call to make a new patient appointment and start the process of having your medical records transferred.
Davis founded Hope Health in 2005 at its current location at 77 Elm St. in Camden. He called the practice a “lifelong dream.”
After earning his nurse practitioner certification in 1998, Davis worked in a mission hospital in Kenya before moving to Maine 35 years ago.
“Even though I started out working for a hospital, I became a nurse practitioner with the goal of opening a small, independent health care practice focused solely on preventative medicine,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in working with patients to improve their health.”
As Hope Health grew over the years, Davis brought in additional providers. Together, they cared for almost 3,000 patients in the Camden area.
Davis, who made the occasional house call, said that one of the things he appreciated most about the past 16 years was how he and the other providers at Hope Health remained true to their mission. However, he said, as patients have grown older, their health needs have become more complicated than a small practice could manage.
“It’s a humbling experience to close what has been my dream, but it is in the best interest of our patients,” he said. “At PBMC, they’ll still get the personal attention they deserve but also better access to the more sophisticated care they need. This is the right move for them.”
Davis said he is proud of what he and the providers accomplished at Hope Health.
“We created a community family practice that remained small and personal and responded to the needs of patients,” he said. “Certainly PBMC is a larger institution than Hope Health, but already I get the sense that the providers here put patients first. I look forward to being part of the team.”
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About Pen Bay Medical Center
Pen Bay Medical Center is part of MaineHealth, a not-for-profit integrated health system consisting of eight local hospital systems, a comprehensive behavioral healthcare network, diagnostic services, home health agencies, and more than 1,600 employed and independent physicians working together through an Accountable Care Organization. With more than 19,000 employees, MaineHealth is the largest health system in northern New England and provides preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. For more information, please visit pbmc.org.