Pen Bay Medical Center said Feb. 10 that it has added Brien Davis, FNP, a primary care provider who has owned Hope Health Family Practice in Camden for many years, to the roster of health care professionals associated with Pen Bay Family Medicine.

Davis will close Hope Health at the end of this month, and move to Pen Bay on March 1, according to a news release from Pen Bay.

Davis, who also owns Hope Orchards in the Town of Hope, said that joining PBMC will allow him to continue working with patients he has come to know so well over the years.

“It is important to me to maintain continuity of care for my patients while providing them with the benefits of being associated with PBMC and the larger MaineHealth system,” he said, in the release.

Two other providers at Hope Health, Michelle Kinney, FNP, and Kristie Profenno, NP-C, have decided to pursue other opportunities, the release said.

“Brien and Hope Health have been an integral and well respected part of the health care ecosystem in our community for many years,” said Mark Eggena, chief medical officer at PBMC. “We are thrilled that Brien will continue to serve the community as a member of the clinical team at PBMC.” 

PBMC and WCGH continue to work hard to put in place the resources necessary to welcome as many Hope Health patients as possible, said Eggena.

“We are doing everything possible to ensure that we can accept everyone who wants to receive health care at PBMC or WCGH and continue to aggressively recruit new providers,” said Eggena. “We are fortunate in that we have grown the number of primary care providers at both hospitals in recent years.”

Medical records for Davis’ patients will transfer automatically to PBMC. Patients with appointments scheduled from March 1 on can see Davis in the new Health Center at 15 Anchor Drive, Suite 201 on the Rockport campus of PBMC. Davis’ new office, Pen Bay Family Medicine, can be reached at 301-5900.

Those Hope Health patients who saw Michelle Kinney and Kristie Profenno and wish to receive care at PBMC or WCGH should go the hospitals’ websites, pbmc.org/newpatients or wcgh.org/newpatients and identify a primary care provider who is accepting new patients. Then call to make a new patient appointment and start the process of having your medical records transferred.

Davis founded Hope Health in 2005 at its current location at 77 Elm St. in Camden. He called the practice a “lifelong dream.”

After earning his nurse practitioner certification in 1998, Davis worked in a mission hospital in Kenya before moving to Maine 35 years ago. 

“Even though I started out working for a hospital, I became a nurse practitioner with the goal of opening a small, independent health care practice focused solely on preventative medicine,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in working with patients to improve their health.”

As Hope Health grew over the years, Davis brought in additional providers. Together, they cared for almost 3,000 patients in the Camden area. 

Davis, who made the occasional house call, said that one of the things he appreciated most about the past 16 years was how he and the other providers at Hope Health remained true to their mission. However, he said, as patients have grown older, their health needs have become more complicated than a small practice could manage.

“It’s a humbling experience to close what has been my dream, but it is in the best interest of our patients,” he said. “At PBMC, they’ll still get the personal attention they deserve but also better access to the more sophisticated care they need. This is the right move for them.”

Davis said he is proud of what he and the providers accomplished at Hope Health.

 “We created a community family practice that remained small and personal and responded to the needs of patients,” he said. “Certainly PBMC is a larger institution than Hope Health, but already I get the sense that the providers here put patients first. I look forward to being part of the team.”