The Department of Health and Human Services will provide nearly $200,000 in health care quality improvement investments to Health Access Network, Inc. in Lincoln and Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield. The funding will enable the facilities to better track patient care and create the infrastructure necessary to increase health education and preventive medicine.

Health Access Network is being awarded $100,000 to conduct an electronic patient registry project focused on diabetes and cardiovascular disease management. The project is unique in its integration of targeted, comprehensive patient centered health education with medical treatment. This kind of integrated approach will improve health outcomes in the long run in rural Maine.

Sebasticook Valley Hospital plans to use the $99,639 it is receiving to implement a quality improvement project in Pittsfield and in Clinton. Sebasticook will use the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Chronic Care model to improve the care of its patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's has announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investing $107,000 in the Central Maine Airport of Norridgewock. The grant will be used to assess the impact that runway obstruction removal will have on nearby wetlands. After the results of the evaluation are available, the Central Maine Airport of Norridgewock will implement the obstruction removal plan that has the least impact on nearby wetland areas.

The evaluation for the obstruction removal process will have two steps: gauging the impact the project has on surrounding wetlands and assessing which obstructive objects require removal. The results of the assessments will allow the airport to remove the obstructions in order to comply with safety regulations.

Courtesy of Michaud Staff