February 8th, 2021 by WCBC Radio

UPMC Western Maryland’s new president, Michele Martz, joined WCBC’s “Dave Norman Show” Friday, reflecting on the past year that began with a health system merger – finalized just weeks before the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic. It was just about a year ago that the Western Maryland Health System officially merged into the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hospital network and became UPMC Western Maryland.  Martz said that the merger could not have happened at a more opportune time for the local health system, as the new affiliation opened any number of doors to help deal with COVID-19 during those early days of the outbreak. She says the UMPC brand has created tremendous opportunities…

Among the many benefits the local health system has experienced with the merger was adding specialty services…

The top priority now she says, is administering COVID vaccinations as soon as shipments arrive…

[audio src="https://www.wcbcradio.com/audio/archive/020821/Martz3.mp3}