Faustino Macuha, MD, medical director of the University of Maryland Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology at UM Shore Regional Health has been joined by two new care providers, Bobbi Atkinson, CRNP and Anna Antwi, CRNP.
“We are very excited to have Bobbi and Anna on board with us,” comments Trish Rosenberry, manager, Outpatient Services for UM Shore Regional Health. “With Dr. Macuha, they are seeing patients at the Center in Shore Medical Center at Easton and on a rotating basis, in the Multi Specialty Clinic at Shore Medical Center at Chestertown. Their presence and their holistic approach to patient care will enable us to treat a larger number of patients and to provide quality care on a more timely basis.”
Macuha, Atkinson and Antwi are affiliated with University of Maryland Community Medical Group (UM CMG), a multi-hospital, multi-specialty network of UM Medical System providers serving the people of Maryland.
For Atkinson, who joined the Center in April and “shadowed” Dr. Macuha to learn the Center’s processes and protocols, working at UM Shore Regional Health is a return engagement. “I worked at UM Shore Medical Center at Dorchester for 20 years before going to Nanticoke Health Services, and the return experience has felt like coming home,” she says. “It’s exciting for me to be a part of a growing team helping people manage a chronic disease that is very prevalent here on the Shore,” she explains.
Antwi arrived in mid-August from York Hospital in York, Pennsylvania, where she developed her interest in working with patients with diabetes and other endocrine disorders. As she explains, “Diabetes is a very challenging disease to treat, because those who have it, especially early on, cannot feel the damage it is doing to many aspects of their health. And once they understand the damage, it still is hard for them to give up certain misconceptions about what is healthy for them and to make changes in lifelong habits. As a provider, it is important to offer positive reinforcement to patients — to be something of a cheerleader — as well as to educate them about the potential complications of diabetes and why they have to exercise, keep up with their eye exams and dental visits, and so on.”
According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 623,000 people in Maryland – over 12 percent of the population — have diabetes. Of these, an estimated 156,000 are undiagnosed and therefore untreated, greatly increasing their risk for heart disease, stroke, amputation and end-stage kidney disease, blindness and death. Nationally, the rate of diabetes among adults over age 65 is estimated at 26.9 percent.
For information about the Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology services, diabetes management classes in Easton and Chestertown, and monthly support group meetings in Cambridge, Chestertown, Denton and Easton, visit http://umshoreregional.org/programs/endocrinology or call 410-822-1000, ext. 5757.
Skip to content