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Memorial announces new physicians, new name for ER

Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center has retained a group of specially trained emergency medicine specialists to provide physician services in its emergency room effective July 1.

Effective immediately, Niagara’s Premier Health Network also has renamed its emergency department. The new name – ER1 – reflects the emphasis Memorial is putting on improved emergency services, President and CEO Joseph A. Ruffolo said.

Medical coverage at ER1 will be provided by FDR Medical Services, P.C., a physician group established in 1999 to provide “the highest quality care using residency trained, board certified emergency medicine physicians in a cost effective manner with patient satisfaction at the forefront,” according to its mission statement.

The group currently staffs emergency rooms at Brooks Memorial Hospital in Dunkirk and United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia.

“As excited as we are about the new Emergency Department and Heart Center of Niagara being built on Walnut Avenue, Memorial is dedicated to immediately improving the emergency care we provide,” Ruffolo said. “While the addition of FDR Medical Services won’t qualify us as a regional trauma center, it will give us lifesaving capabilities previously lacking in Niagara County.”

It also will enhance Memorial’s status as the only emergency room in Western New York that is fully integrated with a cardiac care center, giving patients 24/7 access to non-invasive PET diagnostic technology, Ruffolo added.

Emergency Medicine became the 23rd recognized medical specialty in the United States in 1979, when the American Board of Emergency Medicine’s certification board was recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Residency training is focused on the practice of Emergency Medicine in an Emergency Department and includes:

• Internal Medicine/Surgery/Trauma/ICU
• OB-GYN/Anesthesia/Orthopedics/Pediatrics
• Toxicology/Cardiology/EMS/Ultrasound

In order to become board certified in Emergency Medicine, physicians must pass both written and oral examinations. The emergency room is then the only place they can work, said Dr. John Radford, one of the founding principals of FDR Medical Services.

“Adding FDR’s physicians to the Memorial team will make us the only hospital in Niagara County to offer this level of medical expertise in its emergency room,” Ruffolo said.

To increase efficiency and decrease waiting times, FDR will deploy two physician assistants as well as an ER physician during peak emergency room hours.

“Combined with the use of our new paperless patient processing and tracking system, that will enable us to give our patients significantly better service,” said Emergency Room Director Desiree Korbs, R.N.

Two of Memorial’s current ER physicians, Dr. Leonard Franco and Dr. Maria Shaikh, have joined FDR Medical Services and will remain at the medical center.