[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 27, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S1009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO DR. BOB ANDELMAN

 Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, I am honored to recognize Dr. Bob 
Andelman of Portsmouth, NH, as February's Granite Stater of the Month. 
After a 34-year-long career as an anesthesiologist, Dr. Andelman 
retired and retrained in addiction medicine. He then spent the next 7 
years volunteering with Greater Seacoast Community Health, helping 
patients get the addiction treatment that they need and demonstrating 
an extraordinary commitment to his community and State.
  Dr. Andelman began his career as an anesthesiologist at Wentworth-
Douglass Hospital in 1979, where he worked for 6 years before moving to 
Portsmouth Regional Hospital in 1985, where he worked for 28 years. He 
also volunteered for the New Hampshire Board of Medicine for 10 years. 
In the later years of his practice, addiction grew from a problem into 
a crisis and spread throughout our State, touching nearly every 
community in New Hampshire. As Dr. Andelman began to contemplate 
retirement and the time came to decide whether to renew his medical 
license or let it lapse, Dr. Andelman decided that he could not stop 
practicing medicine; instead, he chose to change course and work to 
address the opioid epidemic. Given the dire need for more doctors to 
prescribe medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder, which 
cuts the craving for addiction and is the gold standard for treatment, 
Dr. Andelman connected with Greater Seacoast Community Health and 
underwent new medical training in order to prescribe medication-
assisted treatment to Granite Staters.
  This transition required learning entirely new medical content and a 
new electronic medical record system as well. But for Dr. Andelman, the 
biggest difference was in the one-on-one relationships he developed 
with his patients. As an anesthesiologist, Dr. Andelman was used to 
gathering information about the patient, consulting with doctors, and 
helping patients understand the process of being anesthetized before, 
during, and after medical procedures. In his role at Families First 
Health Center, part of Greater Seacoast Community Health, he started to 
build long-term relationships with patients, often learning about their 
lives starting from childhood on; and this rapport was essential for 
building trust with his patients to help them stay in recovery. For 7 
years, Dr. Andelman volunteered at Families First, helping countless 
patients and their families change their lives.
  Dr. Andelman was inspired by his time at Families First Health 
Center, particularly by patients who courageously sought treatment and 
faced their conditions head on. He understands that addiction is a 
chronic illness where people can relapse, but some patients continue to 
push through the illness and work to get better. Many patients who come 
in for addiction treatment have not had any positive reinforcement, and 
Dr. Andelman saw the impact that such reinforcement provided when he 
complimented their efforts to seek help and communicated his belief in 
the patient's strength and ability to succeed.
  Dr. Andelman's selfless determination to help others is truly 
inspiring. His long career and volunteer work in medicine exemplifies 
the Granite State spirit of lifting up others and doing what we can to 
help each other out. I am proud to recognize Dr. Andelman's compassion, 
hard work, and the difference he has made for countless Granite Staters 
when they need a doctor--and a friend.

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