Our Work Around Maine

The COVID-19 pandemic was a hard reminder about the importance of having a strong and adaptive health workforce. Continuous learning and training are necessities for health workers and other professionals in order to adapt to the changing needs of our communities.

That's why building capacity and better equipping Maine’s health workforce is vital in order to successfully meet current and future challenges. Our efforts include:

• Offering self-paced and interactive virtual classes and workshops for health workers and other professionals to refine their skills through our e-Learning Program.
• Assisting community health workers (CHWs) to continuously learn and strengthen their skills to address both the ongoing and emerging issues that challenge their communities. MCD offers CHWs virtual and in-person training, apprenticeships, mentoring, and more.
• Improving rural health care through numerous initiatives, such as our own Project ECHO® hub. Originally developed at the University of New Mexico, the ECHO model connects different types of health professionals and other stakeholders and allows them to share knowledge and give support. Some examples of our current ECHO prograins include:
• Collaborative for Advancing Rural Excellence and Equity (CARE2) program that increases knowledge, community connections, intervention awareness, and referral opportunities while exploring telehealth and promoting person-centered approaches to care and equity for older adults in rural communities throughout northern New England and New York.
• Maine Pediatric Behavioral Health ECHO where, in collaboration with the Maine Pediatric and Behavioral Health Partnership (MPBHP), MCD leads the work of implementing a classic clinical ECHO® to enhance MPBHP's mission of meeting the behavioral health crisis within our population of children and adolescents by bringing Project ECHO® to the partnership.
• MCD also supports a network of partners who are developing Maine’s behavioral health workforce through our Rural Behavioral Health Workforce Center (RBHWC).
• Providing embedded staffing support to various programs within the Maine CDC as well as holding numerous contracts with different Maine health organizations. MCD’s staffing efforts with the Maine CDC were vital during the COVID-19 pandemic where, since early 2021, we recruited and trained more than 50 professionals to fulfill different roles throughout Maine.
  
  In addition to pandemic-response staffing, we also assist the Maine CDC’s School Oral Health Program in staffing and managing public-school students’ dental health efforts, providing screenings and sealants to children throughout Maine.

Predicting Future Needs through Technology

Telehealth and technology are vital in allowing communities to access quality health services throughout the U.S. MCD has been a forerunner in this area since the 1970s in Maine and home to the Northeast Telehealth Resource Center (NETRC) since 2011, one of only 14 Telehealth Resource Centers funded by HRSA’s Office for Advancement of Telehealth.

The NETRC aims to increase access to quality health care services for rural and underserved populations through expanded utilization of telehealth. The NETRC team provides technical assistance and training for telehealth program planning, implementation, and evaluation to thousands of stakeholders throughout the six New England states, New York, and beyond and is a proud member of the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers.

Connecting Maine Communities to Health

In addition to all these statewide projects, we also know that your home zip code is a huge influence on your health and well-being. This is why we also focus our efforts at the community-level through different programs:

• Since 2018, MCD's Healthy Kids Healthy Future program has supported partners and early care and education providers to create healthier environments for children by focusing on policy, systems, and environmental changes that support increased access to healthier foods and opportunities to be physically active.
• Healthy Lincoln County, a community health program of MCD, supports thriving, healthy communities in Lincoln County, Maine, by working with partners to improve the health and well-being of residents of all ages through efforts including food security, preventing substance use and harm reduction, and providing community education.
• Our Telephonic Diabetes Education and Support^© Program provides diabetes education to statewide members of the Maine Municipal Employees Health Trust who have a diagnosis of type 1, type 2, or prediabetes.
• In 2015, we partnered with a large Maine employer in developing wellness programming with a focus on preventative health. From this partnership, WellStarME was born, a personalized, web-based wellness program created to improve the health and wellness of more than 20,000 employees and dependents.

Looking Ahead

MCD has grown from a federally funded, Maine-based organization with the goal of improving rural health into a multi-country, global health nonprofit known for its expertise in developing the public health workforce, community engagement, increasing access to health services, and supporting efforts to address malaria, cervical cancer, and health systems strengthening in low- and middle-resource countries.

Regardless of our vast expansion over the 55 years we’ve been around, our roots remain strong in our home state, and we have plans to continue improving the health and well-being of the people and communities of Maine.

Read More: Down East Magazine Article