Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center (MAHHC) has announced a special event to celebrate the career and departure of Dr. Beach Conger, who has been affiliated with the Hospital for almost four decades. On Thursday, June 18, 2015 from 4 to 7 PM, friends, family, patients and colleagues are invited to gather at the Sumner Mansion Inn in Hartland, Vermont to pay tribute to the work and life of Dr. Conger, an accomplished physician, author and educator.
“Beach is a role model, a mentor, and a Mt. Ascutney Hospital institution,” says Hospital CEO Kevin W. Donovan, “and he is all of that because first and foremost he is an extraordinary doctor. He has treated thousands of patients here with his unique combination of intelligence, sensitivity, skill and unpredictable wit.”
Born in New York City in 1941 and a 1967 graduate of Harvard Medical School, Conger began practicing general internal medicine at Mt. Ascutney Hospital in 1977. He was a founding member of the Mt. Ascutney Medical Group. He has also served as an adjunct professor with the Dartmouth Medical School, and is a published author of such books as national best-seller Bag Balm and Duct Tape, all written about the experiences of a small-town country doctor.
Donovan says, “Dr. Conger is truly one of a kind, and our community is healthier and simply better for his long-time presence. His accomplishments are numerous, and we look forward to celebrating with him.”
Founded in 1933, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center is a not-for-profit community hospital network including the critical access-designated Mt. Ascutney Hospital in Windsor, Vermont, and Ottauquechee Health Center in Woodstock, Vermont. Affiliated with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the Hospital provides people in communities across the Connecticut River Valley with primary care and a comprehensive suite of specialty services, along with 25 inpatient beds, a therapeutic pool and an acclaimed, 10-bed inpatient rehabilitation department. Mt. Ascutney Hospital is a recipient of the national Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service, one of the most prestigious awards in healthcare, and is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), as well as the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) with Level 3 status, the highest level of medical home designation for delivering quality care.