PrimeCare Physician Associates break ground for new medical facility
August 03, 2003

PrimeCare Physician Associates, a multi-specialty group practice in York County, recently broke ground for a new medical office building on Route 1 north in Kennebunk.

The two-story structure will house physician offices for many of the PrimeCare health care professionals, including pediatrician Donald Burgess, MD; internists Nathan Wilson, MD,
and Elaine Carlson, MD; family practitioners Wendy Nile, MD, Robert Vaughan, MD, and Andrea Brown, MD; and family nurse practitioner Louise Beaulieu, RN. Southern Maine Medical Center will also be renting the first floor to house an expanded Diagnostic & Therapy Center.

Many of the services currently located in SMMC’s downtown Kennebunk facility will be moving to the new site. SMMC’s home nursing and health care affiliate, Southern Maine Health & Homecare Services (SMHHS), will then move into the Main Street facility.

“The new building consolidates several physician offices into one spacious facility designed to maximize patient comfort and convenience,” notes Jim Harrison, PrimeCare’s CEO. “As our services continue to expand, we want to ensure that our patients receive care in state-of-the-art facilities that reflect our high quality level of service. This facility has been designed from the ground up to reflect our commitment to excellence in medical care.”

The expansion of the SMMC Diagnostic & Therapy Center to the new site is a reflection of the growing popularity of the services provided at the existing facility on Main Street.

"Kennebunk has become a significant medical community, with many physician offices and a growing number of diagnostic, rehabilitation and long term care centers,” says Ed McGeachey, SMMC's president & CEO. “Patients travel from throughout York County to see the physicians who practice in Kennebunk, as well as to use our expanding diagnostic and therapy services. SMMC's ability to provide the best of care close to home is critical to residents and visitors, and we are pleased to be an important resource to these growing communities."

The new facility will feature radiology services such as x-rays, mammography, and bone densitometry, as well as lab services, physical and occupational therapy, speech therapy, nutrition counseling, and space for orthopedic surgeons Peter Dollard, MD, and David Markellos, MD, who currently share offices in the Main Street facility. The new location will bring these important services closer to several physicians and physician groups located in the immediate vicinity, such as The Medical Group, which is situated directly across the street.

"Patients really appreciate being able to go directly from their physician's office to any necessary diagnostic services, so this move is a real plus for them," adds McGeachey.

SMMC's diagnostic and therapy services will be moved from the Main Street location into the new office center around the first of the year. The existing facility will then house SMHHS, a new Memory Center, and it will continue to be the Kennebunk home for many specialists such as PrimeCare neurologist Jeffrey Fecko, MD; neurobehavioral psychologists Philip Morse, PhD, and Bennett Slotnick, PhD; infectious disease specialist Thomas Courtney, MD; and general surgeons Robert Neilson, DO, Christopher Rogers, DO, and Benjamin Russell, DO.

SMMC is a 150-bed, not-for-profit, full-service medical center with Diagnostic and Therapy centers in Saco and Kennebunk. Home health care is provided by Southern Maine Health and Homecare Services. SMMC is JCAHO accredited and affiliated with the MaineHealth network.