Perham Health continues to pride itself on being on the cutting edge of medical technology, while still having a small town and neighborly feel. That mentality, which includes both the hospital and its various clinics, was only strengthened over the past year as Perham Health had one of its best years recruiting new medical personnel, while also opening the new Roger Maris Cancer Center in Perham.

Perham Health CEO Chuck Hofius said the facility had its best year ever recruiting new providers to its healthcare field. A total of eight new providers have joined the staff, including Dr. Shelby Bucholz, Family Medicine/OB; Dr. Michael Kerr, family medicine; Dr. Lindsay Haugen, family medicine/OB; Dr. Marlee Novak, family medicine/behavioral health; Dr. James Bear, emergency medicine; Tim Fresonke, PA-C, emergency/same day care; Ana Janke, psychiatric nurse practitioner and Shelby Goodman, CNP, oncology-Roger Maris; all began serving residents of the greater region over the past year. 

Hofius said Perham Health has been recruiting many of the new providers to come to the Perham and New York Mills area for several years, dating back to their time in medical school and residency, The Perham Health CEO went on to say it is very unusual to have so many new providers join a staff in rural healthcare in one year as attracting healthcare professionals can be a challenge. 

As a result of all of the new faces at Perham Health, now is a great time to establish a relationship with a new healthcare provider as more family medical appointments are available than ever before at the Perham Health facilities, including at the NY Mills clinic. All of the new providers will continue to carry on the tradition of family-centric care where the medical personnel work with patients from diagnosis through the treatment. 

“With so many new providers, if someone is looking to establish with a primary care physician, now is the time to do it,” said Hofius. “Right now we have really good access and the energy level of the new providers is really nice to have with the new team.”

The new staff members will also look to fill some big shoes left by Dr. Thomas Seaworth, Dr. Randel Stolee, Director of EMS Jim Rieber and Director of EMS Rebecca Huesch who all retired over the past year. 

In addition to the new staff, another new addition at Perham Health is the Sanford Roger Maris Cancer Center in Perham. The cancer center was honored in late October at a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the new facility in Perham. The cancer center will provide area residents the opportunity to receive the cancer treatment they need, without having to travel hours away to a bigger community. 

“We worked with Sanford together for a number of years to be able to get a good cancer center in Perham,” said Hofius. “Now we have someone here every day of the week and an oncologist here one day a week.”

Patients not only receive life-saving treatment, but also benefit from the array of resources offered by the Sanford Roger Maris Cancer Center. For example, the nurse navigator program streamlines care coordination across various specialties, ensuring comprehensive and well-coordinated treatment plans. Recognizing the physical and emotional toll of cancer treatment, patients are provided a wide range of survivorship support services, alleviating the challenges of lengthy commutes and exhausting treatments.

Several other exciting services have also recently been unveiled at Perham Health including a new Mobile PET Scan, aquatic therapy at the PACC and vascular ultrasound. Hofius said the goal of each of the new services is to not only provide first-class medical treatments at Perham Health, but to allow residents easy access to the care they need. All-too-often people simply choose to not get a necessary test or treatment that could potentially save their life because they didn’t want to travel to a bigger community, or were unable to take the necessary time off of work to get the care they need. 

“When you are not feeling well, or you are afraid, to be cared for by local people you know and not have to travel is huge,” said Hofius. “Many times people choose not to get treatment or tested…a lot of the older people said if I have to go to Fargo I am just not going to go to Fargo and get treatment or tests. Bringing it here is just huge for that senior population, or people who do not drive.”

In addition to the cancer center, a new pain specialist will provide pain injections in Perham up to two times a week. 

The specialist provides the opportunity for local residents to get the pain treatment they need, without having to take off a day of work to travel to another community. For many of the patients seeking treatment, being able to take off of work for a day to get medical treatment can prove to be a difficult challenge. 

“The drive isn’t the problem, it’s the taking that much time off of work to go (to another community) once a month,” said Hofius.

Looking ahead, Hofius said Perham Health and Sanford are looking to extend their current management agreement with the rural healthcare facility. Currently Perham Health is owned by the community, but managed by Sanford Health. Hofius said both sides feel the local ownership and management model has worked out well for both sides and they are looking to extend that agreement for another 10 years. 

For more information about any of the services or new physicians offered at Perham Health, visit the facility online at www,perhamhealth.org.