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Two doctors alleviate shortage of ER staff
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Posted on Sep 27 2005
The emergency room at the Commonwealth Health Center continues to suffer from a severe shortage of doctors, as only two doctors have joined the department this month.
This brings the number of doctors at the department to four, with doctors Gregory Kotheimer and Patrick Tong joining doctors Leon Hart and Aaron Fitzpatrick on the ER roster. Hart and Fitzpatrick were the only ones left at the ER since August.
The hospital’s medical affairs director, Dr. Robin Shearer, earlier said five doctors would join the ER department, saying that the ideal number of ER doctors is eight.
Shearer’s assistant, Roxy Salas, disclosed Monday that two of the five doctors who were supposed to join the CHC backed out for personal reasons.
Another doctor, Tracy Stephenson, joined the CHC for only two weeks. Salas said that Stephenson rendered only temporary service.
Salas said four other doctors would join the CHC sometime in October, during which the ER department would meet the ideal number for doctors.
She said three of those doctors would serve the hospital temporarily for less than 90 days. Only one of the four doctors will work full-time with the department.
Despite the shortage of doctors, Shearer said that the hospital management has been doing its best to cope with the situation. He himself has volunteered to attend to patients.
Meanwhile, Salas disclosed that another doctor, Richard McLaren, joined the Department of Surgery and Anesthesia, which now has nine physicians.
The Internal Medicine department has 11 physicians; OB/Gynecology, 4; Pediatrics, 6; Psychiatry, 2; and Family Medicine, 7. Rota and Tinian’s health centers have 2 and 1, physicians, respectively.
