Stephen L. Richins, PA-C started working in the hospital's newly constructed Emergency Department on May 28 and comes to Mayo from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where he worked since1998 as a physician assistant at the Bluestem Medical Clinic/JPMC-ER. He previously worked at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City as a telemetry technician and surgical service technician.

Richins earned a B.S. degree in Behavioral Science and Health, and a certification from the College of Family Medicine, Physician Assistant Program, from the University of Utah.

He and his wife, Donna, have six children, ages 1-9, and the family has purchased a home in Parkman.

Darla N. Coombs of Hermon joined Guilford Medical Associates on June 28 as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She replaces Lisa Bartley, who moved to Corinna Family Practice earlier this year.

Coombs, who will work at Guilford on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, graduated in May with an MSN degree from the Family Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Maine. She earned her LPN from Eastern Maine Technical College in 1981, a Diploma of Nursing from St. Joseph School of Nursing in 1985, and a BSN from the University of Maine in 1998.

Coombs worked at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor from 1985-2001 as a staff nurse RN, in the Intensive Care Unit, and in the Emergency Department. She was a staff nurse in the ICU at Eastern Maine Medical Center from 1995-2002.