May 22, 2007
Contact: Allison Bankston, Senior Director of Marketing & Development, PVH
Phone 794-7124

(Lincoln, ME)— Penobscot Valley Hospital has a new medical staff leader. Todd O’Brien, DPM has been elected President of the PVH Medical Staff at the Lincoln facility. O’Brien is an employee of the Health Access Network, a federal funded, community health center in Lincoln which offers comprehensive health care services.

The chief is chosen by his or her peers on the medical staff, which consists of a dozen or so doctors. The PVH Board of Directors also approved O’Brien’s appointment, as required by the hospital. The PVH medical staff members rotate in leadership, and Dr. O’Brien was chosen to take over for Dr. John Shannon, who rotated out of the chief’s position this spring.

Dr. O’Brien has practiced podiatric medicine and surgery in Lincoln since 1997. He has served on numerous hospital committees including one that focused on quality improvements including “fall prevention”. Like many other hospitals which have a large percentage of senior patients, PVH has been working on ways to cut down on the number of falls that take place at the facility. Through the hospital’s Quality Improvement Department, Dr. O’Brien was asked to be part of a team to study a year’s worth of data on patients who had fallen at PVH. The team focused on such details as the ages and conditions of the patients who fell, the time of day of the falls, and other reoccurring factors, and the hospital implemented a new program in January, based on the team’s recommendations, in an effort to cut down on the number of falls.

Dr. O’Brien is married and has a 10 year old son and a 7 year old daughter. He is originally from Massachusetts but has lived in Maine for about 10 years. O’Brien did his undergraduate work at Bates College and continued his education at Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine in Chicago, IL.

Dr. O’Brien is President of the Maine Foot and Ankle Society and founder of West Enfield-based O’Brien Medical, LLC. His company, which operates out of his home, is the owner of several patents and licenses for specialized surgical products. Dr. O’Brien has been gaining national exposure as a medical inventor, and he has even invented toys that have had successful sales in other countries.