All of our work at Dartmouth Health—from nursing to social work, physical therapy to pharmacy—is dedicated to making sure our patients with Parkinson’s disease receive exemplary care.
Melanie L. Del Frari, MSN, APRNDartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), a member of Dartmouth Health, has been designated by the Parkinson’s Foundation as a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, following an extensive review process. DHMC is one of just 47 Centers of Excellence around the world and 37 nationwide, and the only one in northern New England.
In its review, the Parkinson’s Foundation highlighted several areas where DHMC especially excelled in its care for Parkinson’s patients, including a person-centered, comprehensive and integrated approach to care, education and research; exceptional communication and collaboration with the team, external providers, patients and families; a state-of-the-art neurosurgery facility; and the Dartmouth Centers for Health & Aging’s Aging Resource Center, which provides workshops, wellness programs and advance care planning.
“We are so proud and honored to receive this designation,” said Melanie L. Del Frari, MSN, APRN, clinical coordinator for Dartmouth Health’s Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Program. “It is truly humbling to work alongside such dedicated professionals caring for such a special patient population. All of our work at Dartmouth Health—from nursing to social work, physical therapy to pharmacy—is dedicated to making sure our patients with Parkinson’s disease receive exemplary care.”
To be designated as a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, a medical center must have a specialized team of neurologists, movement disorder specialists, physical and occupational therapists, mental health professionals and others who are up to date on the latest Parkinson’s medications, therapies and research. Each center is required to meet rigorous care, clinical research, professional training, community education and outreach criteria. Every center must reapply for designation after five years to ensure required standards of care.
To learn more, visit https://www.parkinson.org/living-with-parkinsons/finding-care/global-care-network.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and largest private employer, serves patients across New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,300 providers in nearly every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. Its network of hospitals, outpatient centers, clinics and home care facilities, spans a broad geographical area. Year after year, DHMC is named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is consistently recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, northern New England’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of less than than 60 total nationally; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital (Children’s Hospital at DHMC/CHaD) and more than 20 locations around the region; eight member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont, Hampstead, and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Dartmouth Health Home Care; Dartmouth Health Connected Care Center for Telehealth, serving patients as far away as Texas; and more than 30 primary and multi-specialty clinics across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its partnership with Dartmouth College, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the White River Junction VA Medical Center, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials with international impact. Dartmouth Health and its more than 16,000 employees are committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in the communities it serves and to providing every patient with exceptional, state-of-the-art, personalized care. Learn more at dartmouth-health.org.