| Fredericka
Heller, MD, FACOG, CCD
Fredericka Heller, MD, is a native of Berks County. She is
a member of the medical staff of The Reading Hospital and Medical
Center and is a board certified member of the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Dr. Heller is a graduate of
Vassar College. She received her medical degree from The University
of Pennsylvania Medical School. She completed her specialty
training at The Reading Hospital and Medical Center. She is
currently the Chair of the Section of Obstetrics, Department of OB/GYN
at The Reading Hospital and Medical Center.
Dr. Heller is on the faculty of The Reading Hospital and Medical
Center’s OB-GYN residency training program and is a Clinical
Assistant Professor at Drexel University College of Medicine, Department
of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Professional memberships include: American Medical Association,
American Medical Women’s Association, American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists, International Society of Clinical Densitometrists,
Pennsylvania Medical Society, Berks County Medical Society (President
2007) and the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia.
Active in the community, Dr. Heller served as a board member of
the Hispanic Center of Reading and also helped initiate the Hispanic
Center Scholarship Fund for Latino students. She speaks both
Spanish and English. In 2000, she received the “Women
of Distinction Award” from the Great Valley Girl Scout Council,
and is a frequent speaker at community programs and events.
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Beth Clifford, RN
Beth is a registered nurse and a 2001 Reading Hospital School
of Nursing graduate. She has worked in Labor and Delivery and Pediatrics
before joining our staff in August 2004. She provides care,
support and education to all our maternity patients. She lives
in Schuylkill County at Lake Wynonah. She enjoys spending
her spare time on the lake and outdoors with her husband and 2 young
daughters.
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Bridget Cortellessa
Bridget is a registered sonographer with the American Registry of
Diagnostic Medical Sonographers in obstetrics and gynecology. She
is a member of the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers and
has 14 years of ultrasound experience. She has been with our
practice since 2002. She has 2 children and enjoys going to
ice hockey games and spending spare time traveling with her children
in their camper.
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Soni Dzurkovich, RN
Soni is a registered nurse and a 1993 graduate of The Reading Hospital
School of Nursing. She is certified in obstetrics and has worked
as a Labor and Delivery nurse since 1995. She joined our practice
in November 2005 and provides care and education to our maternity
patients. She lives in Wernersville along with her husband
and 2 daughters. She loves the beach and spending time with
her family.
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Laurie Herb
Laurie is a radiologic technologist and graduated from The Reading
Hospital and Medical Center’s School of Radiologic Technology
in 1996. She joined our practice in 2002, and currently performs
Dexa (bone density) scans for the diagnosis of osteopenia and osteoporosis. She
is a member of the International Society for Clinical Densitometry
and a certified densitometry technologist (CDT). Laurie is
a mother of two and enjoys reading and working out at the gyn.
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Carol Faust
Carol is our receptionist at the front desk of our office. She
lives in Schuylkill County and travels over an hour each way to work
with us. She just joined our staff in February 2001. Carol
enjoys reading, spending time with her niece and nephews (and cats)
and is involved with many church youth activities.
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Amy Hull, MSN, CRNP
Amy received her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from West
Chester University in 1999. She then worked for 6 years at
Phoenixville Hospital in the maternity department. She received
her Masters of Science degree in nursing and her nurse practitioner
certification in 2005 from Widener University. She joined our
practice in November 2005, and has recently limited her hours to
part-time so that she can teach nursing students at Eastern University. Her
hobbies include reading and yoga.
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Vanessa Lopez
We first met Vanessa in January 2007 during her externship at our
practice through Berks Technical Institute. After she graduated
with an associate degree in April, she joined the practice as a medical
assistant. She is also a medic in the Pennsylvania Army National
Guard. Her hobbies include reading and spending time
with her daughter.
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Jackelyn Ortega
Jacky graduated from Reading High School and worked for an electronics
company before joining Women’s Lifecycles. She handles
all our medical records filing and speaks fluent Spanish and therefore
is able to translate for our Spanish-speaking patients. Jacky
enjoys reading and being taxi mom for her son.
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Lori Spengler, LPN
Lori received her license for practical nursing upon graduation
from Reading-Muhlenberg VoTech in 1982 and trained at St. Joseph’s
Hospital. She then worked at The Reading Hospital and Medical
Center for 8 years. She joined our staff in April 2001. In
addition to functioning as Dr. Heller’s medical assistant,
Lori also schedules surgical procedures for the operating room. She
also makes telephone calls to patients with laboratory results, relaying
Dr. Heller’s recommendations and scheduling any follow-up appointments
or procedures. Lori enjoys spending time with her son and being
with her dogs.
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Barbara Stricker
Barb is our office manager. (It’s Barb’s voice you hear
on our answering machine.) She received an associate degree
as medical secretary in 1974 and the worked for the Du Pont Company’s
engineering department until 1980 when she moved to Berks County. She
first met Dr. Heller while secretary to the medical director at Reading
Hospital. She joined our practice 2 months after we opened
(in 1984) as a part-time secretary and soon moved into the insurance
billing person. With the advent of HMO’s she then took
on the responsibilities of obtaining HMO authorizations and precertifications,
and has thus became our jack-of-all-trades person that we all rely
upon for all aspects of office services. Barb and her
husband live on their organic dairy farm (she prefers working
with people rather than cows) and has two sons. She enjoys
spending time with her family and making trips to Ocean City, Maryland.
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Ruth Winkle
Ruth has been with us since 2002 as a check-out person in the front
office. She has a B.S. degree from Albright College in Family
and Consumer Science and taught at the high school level. Ruth
lives in Berks County with her husband and has two grown children. In
her spare time she enjoys gardening, travel, crafts and working out
at the gym.
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Rosemarie Wolfel
Rose is our billing coordinator. She is a newcomer to our
practice having joined us in June 2006. Rose has more than
20 years experience in medical office management and medical billing. She
is a member of the American Academy of Professional Coders. Rose
and her husband have three grown children and several grandchildren. Rose
enjoys walking for exercise, container gardening and of course spending
time with her children and grandchildren.
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