White Mountain Community Health Center is pleased to welcome Family Nurse Practitioner Marcelo Maiorano, APRN to our staff. Family nurse practitioners are primary care providers who can serve as a PCP for patients of any age. Marcelo is now accepting new patients, newborns through seniors! You can call (603) 447-8900 to make a new patient appointment with him.
We sat down with Marcelo to learn more about the values that drive his work and what he offers to our community.
Siena Kaplan-Thompson: Tell me about yourself! Where are you from originally?
Marcelo Maiorano: I grew up in Michigan, but I’ve lived in the Valley for most of the last ten years. My wife grew up here in the Valley and two of our three daughters were born here in North Conway. We also spent three years in Brazil as part of a service program, where our youngest daughter was born.
SKT: What got you interested in medicine?
MM: I’ve had an interest in healthcare and medicine since I was a kid, when I was frequently a patient myself. I grew up with asthma and allergies, I had a hospitalization, and always had pretty close follow-up with my own illness. So I grew to be comfortable in those settings and with my providers. They were always warm, they always listened thoughtfully, and they could imbue an appropriate amount of humor, which helped keep a positive rapport.
Healthcare seemed like a nice chance to connect with people and support them through sometimes difficult situations and work alongside the patient to problem-solve and make goals. And to be as much of a positive presence in my patients’ lives as those providers were in my own.
SKT: What were you doing before you were a nurse practitioner?
I worked as a registered nurse on the brain injury unit at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Having that work experience was pretty beneficial because I was able to work alongside a lot of other disciplines, like physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech language pathology, who were all coordinating with nursing and medicine to support patients’ recovery from traumatic and non-trautmatic brain injuries. It provided me with some interesting insight into the other professions and how they best can be utilized for our patients.
SKT: Before you were in healthcare, you were doing something very different, right?
MM: Immediately before nursing school we lived in Brazil for about 3.5 years as part of a long-term volunteer program. There I worked with an organization that supported men experiencing homelessness, providing shelter and social services for 1,200 men every night. I also made weekly visits to the Hospital Center of the São Paolo state prison system. That work provided me the chance to follow some patient prisoners and provide them with support, but it also bolstered my interest in healthcare and providing healthcare to people regardless of their position in society, which is something that appeals to me about community health centers – expansion of access to patients regardless of their means.
SKT: How did you end up doing that?
MM: As an undergrad at Loyola University in Chicago, I had met a man doing graduate work whose family had served in Kenya with an organization called Maryknoll Lay Missioners. That piqued my interest, this idea of long-term service with the opportunity to live overseas and within a different culture. After graduation, I did an AmeriCorps service program called Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest, in Juneau, Alaska. It was there that I met Kathleen, my wife, as we were placed in the same community.
Kathleen and I placed service as a really central value in our relationship, and we talked about doing that sort of long-term volunteer program overseas as a couple. Then we had two daughters and decided to live this experience as a family. My mother was born in Brazil and I have some extended family there still, so I felt a tie to the country and culture, and it was a nice opportunity to share that with Kathleen and our daughters.
It was a real opportunity to live out some of the values we have, our commitment to social justice, and share our stories and build bridges between people here and the work there – trying to bring people closer together, closer to the realities of others. And in doing so hopefully improving conditions for people who are subjected to some social injustices.
SKT: How does all of that inform your work here as a provider?
MM: My experience has led me to be very culturally sensitive, curious to learn more about the patients I’m working with. Having a diversity of experience has helped me to come into an appointment or visit with a bit more of an attitude of openness and curiosity, without presumption that I know everything that’s “wrong” with the patient. It’s bolstered my listening and ability to engage with folks from a variety of walks of life and backgrounds.
SKT: Do you have any philosophies or values that guide you as a provider?
People deserve high quality healthcare regardless of their station in life. So it’s my goal to provide that, whether someone has ample financial means or is struggling. Which is one of the reasons why the community health center model of expanding access to care appeals to me.
SKT: As a family nurse practitioner, you see children and teenagers as well as adults. What would you say to a family that’s considering choosing you as their child’s provider?
MM: I go into every visit with families and children with the perspective of being a parent myself and knowing the importance of having a trustful relationship with a provider. Establishing rapport and better understanding the family’s concerns and getting to know the child as their own person is important to me, and I hope that comes through.
SKT: What do you enjoy about being a nurse practitioner?
MM: I like getting to know people and being a resource for people. I like to share information, so patients can better know themselves and better understand their health concerns and their health goals – sharing my curiosity and positivity and hopefully some optimism when it comes to healthcare and the lifestyle decisions that are important to leading the healthiest lives we can.
SKT: And conversely, what’s hard about it?
MM: It’s hard not always having an immediate answer for patients. Having been on the patient side of healthcare in some moments of medical uncertainty in my own past, I know how hard it can be not having an answer or solution immediately. So that can be hard, it’s a challenge, but I’m glad to be able to sit with a patient in that time of unknown, to accompany patients in that time of uncertainty.
Another challenge is the system of healthcare we have, that has made access to care increasingly difficult for so many folks. Hearing about the struggles that folks have in the past or currently in accessing and getting the healthcare and medications that they need, being able to afford things they need for their health to improve.
SKT: You’re fluent in Portuguese and speak some Spanish – can you talk about the language access you’re able to offer patients?
I’ve enjoyed providing care for some of the valley’s Spanish speakers thus far, and look forward to continuing to build my medical Spanish alongside the skills in Portuguese that I already have. It’s always very fulfilling for me to be able to provide care in a patient’s native language because I see the potential and the possibility for a deeper patient-provider connection and relationship and I can see the appreciation with the patients I’ve provided care for. I think it’s mutually gratifying.
I am currently enrolled in and Advanced Medical Spanish course that is enhancing my clinical communication abilities, as vocabulary around health and illness can be nuanced.
Having Alberto [our new medical assistant whose first language is Spanish] and now me here at the health center, I think our Spanish-speaking patients feel heard and better able to communicate concerns. The patient I saw this afternoon told me feels like she has a team here she can rely on, whereas for whatever reasons in the past I think she felt a little out of the loop in some ways in communication with her patient care. She’s very grateful, and I’m very glad we can provide a setting she feels more comfortable in.
SKT: Why did you choose to join White Mountain Community Health Center? What do you like about being here?
I was attracted to the community health model, and being able to serve some of our community’s most vulnerable and expanding access to quality care for the whole valley – like it says in our tagline. That was attractive to me. And this place where - one of the places our family calls home, being able to connect to the community in a different way. This is offering a new and very fruitful way of engaging with the folks on an individual level, and hopefully supporting the health of the community.
Patients have a team here at the community health center, that’s another piece that I really like. Being a smaller center as we are, I feel that we are a really close-knit team, with multiple disciplines with community health workers, even dentistry, mental health. Many of patients’ healthcare needs can be met here in this building and the folks in this building are working together as a team, which only benefits patients and providers.
SKT: What’s your secret talent or hobby? What do you do for fun outside of work?
Well, I like to play soccer, and I like running and cross-country skiing. This time of year you’ll find me cross-country skiing with my family or dog each weekend. It’s nice to participate in these activities as a family, and we appreciate the access to the outdoors and nature we are so lucky to have here in the Valley. I also enjoy music -- I play the trumpet and some guitar, and I like to share that with my family, too. I’ve played in the Mt. Washington Community Band, and I’ve also served as a volunteer firefighter. I really enjoy participating in a variety of activities!
Marcelo is accepting new primary care patients of any age. To schedule a new patient appointment or learn more, call (603) 447-8900. Click here for new patient registration forms.
White Mountain Community Health Center is offers comprehensive primary care to men, women and children, including dental care, family planning, substance abuse treatment, and support services. The health center is a non-profit that exists to ensure that everyone in our community can access high-quality health care, regardless of ability to pay.