Morton Hospital celebrated a number of achievements in 2018 and has announced some key investments for the New Year. In an email to hospital staff, Morton Hospital President Deborah Bitsoli recently recapped several accomplishments and milestones achieved by the hospital in 2018, many of which recognized the high quality of care patients receive at Morton Hospital in key departments.

 

Awards

In 2018, Morton Hospital received official designation as a “Lung Cancer Screening Center” from the American College of Radiology, recognizing the success of the hospital’s low-dose CT lung screening program and emphasizing Morton’s commitment to saving lives through early detection.

 

Physicians/Services

Meanwhile, the hospital also attracted several new physician specialists with expert training from some of the area’s leading academic programs, while also recruiting veteran physician experts to help serve the greater Taunton community.

 

In 2018, those strategic physician recruitment efforts helped to attract many talented new physicians to the hospital, including: Dr. Nicole Pecquex, a fellowship-trained bariatric weight loss surgeon; Dr. Daniel Levin, a Massachusetts General Hospital trained pain management specialist; Dr. Jonathan Kittredge, an experienced vascular surgeon; Dr. Patricia Andrade, a general surgeon specializing in breast surgery; and Dr. Richard Demopoulos, a general surgeon with expertise in minimally invasive colorectal surgery.

 

The hospital also added new specialists in the areas of pulmonary care, medical oncology and podiatric surgery, as well as new chiefs of its Emergency Department and Hospitalist care team.

 

Community Sponsorships

The hospital also hosted and sponsored a range of public health and community events, including a “Family Fun Day” community health fair held at the hospital in September, quarterly lunch and learn programs for seniors, and various blood pressure screening programs and educational talks within the community. Morton Hospital also sponsored local youth sports programs and supported several community organizations through sponsorships and donations, including the Taunton YMCA, Taunton Area School to Career, Girls Inc., Associates for Human Services and the Taunton Rotary Club among many others.

 

Additionally, Morton Hospital continued to be one of the area’s largest taxpayers, helping to fund police departments, fire departments, public schools, and other key municipal services.

 

The Year Ahead

In 2019, Bitsoli said Morton Hospital will continue to invest in and expand service lines that are in high demand from patients including its vascular and weight loss surgery programs. In addition, the hospital will continue to increase its network of primary care providers, including adding even more multilingual providers to best meet the needs of its culturally diverse community.  

 

“We are honored to serve patients of the greater Taunton community. Our team of talented physicians, nurses, and caregivers did a tremendous job in 2018 thanks to their ongoing dedication to providing high quality care to thousands of patients,” said Bitsoli. “We expect that success to continue in 2019 through additional physician recruitment and key initiatives to optimize patient experience and to make care both in our hospital and through our network of providers even more accessible and convenient for the patients we serve.”