Chamber names TAMC Business of the Year
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — The Aroostook Medical Center, which marked its 100th anniversary in 2012, continued to celebrate in 2013, being named the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year during the organization’s annual dinner, held Jan. 24 at the Presque Isle Inn & Convention Center.
BUSINESS OF THE YEAR — The Aroostook Medical Center was named the 2012 Business of the Year during the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner, held Jan. 24 at the Presque Isle Inn & Convention Center. Pictured from left are: CACC President Stacy Shaw; Lynn Lombard, chair of TAMC’s board of trustees; Sylvia Getman, TAMC’s president and CEO; and Theresa Fowler, executive director, CACC.
CACC President Stacy Shaw presented the award.
“I am honored to present the Business of the Year award for 2012 to The Aroostook Medical Center. This is an award voted on by the CACC board of directors,” said Shaw.
“TAMC, ‘more than a hospital’ – isn’t that a fantastic tagline?” noted Shaw.
Shaw continued, asking how many of those present were born at the hospital, had children there or had received treatment in the past year.
“With more than 1,000 employees, TAMC is the largest employer and the largest non-profit organization in Aroostook County. TAMC provides health care services to people from throughout northern Maine. In 2012, they celebrated their centennial anniversary — 100 years of service to our area. What an accomplishment,” he said.
Shaw said the celebration wasn’t limited to the hospital facility but shared with the community.
“Remember the TAMC Day Celebration which included a downtown parade and community picnic. Or how about the Centennial Potato Plot with Cavendish and Northeast Packaging, the Charity Ice Cream Dish with Houlton Farms, Rally on the Roof Cancer Fundraiser with Town Square Media or the County Cancer Hall of Courage with four County weekly newspapers?” Shaw asked the audience.
TAMC continued to be a groundbreaker in 2012.
“TAMC broke ground in 2012 on a compressed natural gas heating project. This project is the first of its kind in the state and one of the first in the nation. That is the kind of visionary leadership we desperately need in Aroostook. They expect the project to be completed this spring,” said Shaw.
Shaw said the hospital continues to be an intricate part of the community.
“TAMC is very involved and supportive of community events and activities, even sponsoring one of the Chamber’s live auction items this evening,” he said.
He said the health care provider “received numerous awards in 2012, far too many for me to talk about here tonight, so we included a pamphlet at each table for you to look at.”
A few highlights offered by Shaw included:
• TAMC is one of only 32 Pioneer accountable care organizations in the nation;
• The Joint Commission, an independent nonprofit organization that accredits more than19,000 health care organizations, recognized TAMC as a top performer on key quality measures. TAMC was one of only four hospitals in the state to achieve this recognition;
• In early summer Avatar International announced TAMC was among its 2011 award-winning hospital partners and TAMC was awarded with the 2011 Exemplary Service — Most Improved — Outpatient Surgical Award;
• Around the same time, TAMC and 10 other member organizations that make up the Eastern Maine Health Care Systems learned the system made the IMS annual list of the top 100 integrated health networks in the nation; and
• In November, TAMC was honored with an “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group.
“It is with great honor and pleasure that I’m pleased to present the 2012 Business of the Year award to The Aroostook Medical Center,” said Shaw.
TAMC’s President and CEO Sylvia Getman and Lynn Lombard, chair of the TAMC board of trustees, accepted the award on behalf of the hospital.
Getman expressed gratitude to the citizens and community for the hospital’s continued success, with Lombard adding positive comments about the staff and TAMC board.
