EASTPORT, Maine — Since artist Amy Ray moved back to her beloved hometown of Eastport three years ago, she and her husband, Mike Stewart, have built a quaint waterfront home, two downtown shops, and a thriving community. I got everything I wanted, including a great art scene.
What Ray missed was at least going to the dentist without a long hassle.
Ray wanted to go to his primary care dentist, Eastport Healthcare, but was told there would be a long wait, at least four years.
“It turned out he had a pretty serious abscess,” Ray said. She was able to see a private dentist, but only because “I pulled some of the strings.”
Ray said she doesn't oppose the health center. Now that she's back after years away, she's seen how much Eastport has grown and understands the pressures on health care providers.
Washington County, like most of the state, has experienced population growth, adding about 450 new residents over the past four years, according to the latest census data. Three percent of this increase is in Eastport, which currently has 1,321 full-time residents, an increase of 133 from 2020.
While this number seems small, it doesn't tell the whole story of the added pressure on Eastport's limited resources, including health care.
During the summer months and before the off-season, there is an influx of tourists, vacationers, and summer residents, many of whom are in need of medical care. Despite being a trendy artist community, Eastport has a poverty rate of about 15% and a median household income of just $51,669, according to census data.
Approximately 10% of residents do not have health insurance and there is a shortage of medical providers.
According to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, Eastport, like the rest of the county, is classified as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA), which means that primary, dental, mental health providers, or all This means there is a shortage of healthcare providers. On top of that.
Feeling the growing demand, Eastport Health Care (EHC), which already serves approximately 5,400 patients, is rapidly expanding its services and footprint in Downeast Maine. Last year, the nonprofit built a 10,000-square-foot facility on Dublin Street in Machias to replace an aging and cramped building on Fremont Street that previously housed EHC services.
Now, with an infusion of nearly $6 million in state and federal grants, EHC is expanding again. The federally supported community health center recently purchased 2.8 acres of land adjacent to the IGA store, around the corner from its existing offices on Washington Street in Eastport, and will be building a medical facility in Machias. There are plans to build a larger medical facility.
“Our county is the oldest county in the nation's oldest state, and we have unacceptably high rates of chronic disease, suicide, and addiction,” said EHC CEO Ellen Krajewski. Ta. “All of this makes the work of community health centers and hospitals extremely important.”
Krajewski, who moved to Eastport from Vermont for the CEO job in 2018, said patient numbers have increased 33% over the past five years.
Credit: Photo provided.
Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Ellen Krajewski, photographed in January 2023.
He said the Eastport expansion will more than double the size of the current building, the Roland B. French Medical Center at 30 Boynton Street, built in 1978.
Once funding is available, the design phase will begin, Krajewski said. She said the facility will be two stories tall and she expects it to be between 13,000 and 17,000 square feet. It is larger than Machias Center and should be able to provide a wider range of services.
All services at the Boynton Street facility will transition to the new facility, including dental, primary care, behavioral health and diabetes care.
The additional space will make room for additional dental specialists and primary care providers, as well as better space for behavioral health services and diabetes center expansion.
Krajewski said the new building should provide a more comfortable space for patients and providers, which he hopes will lead to a higher level of care and attract new staff. .
Krajewski said there are 35 providers in Eastport and about 25 more in Machias, which has a limited talent pool, professional retirement, and remote and rural areas. EHC said it is optimistic about increasing staffing at both locations despite staffing shortages in the area, due in part to challenges attracting providers to the community.
EHC has already been successful in recruiting, welcoming several new health care providers to both locations, including new medical director Dr. Robert Fares. He was hired by West Virginia to replace Dr. Cynthia Sammis, who retired last year.
Down East Community Hospital (DECH), which operates the hospital in Machias and its sister hospital in Calais, also provides primary care at five locations. In a statement to The Main Monitor, DECH CEO Steve Reil said he welcomes the expansion of EHC, even though it sometimes competes with EHC for providers, patients and funding. Stated.
“We have a good working relationship with EHC, and EHC refers many patients to DECH for specialty treatments, diagnostic imaging, etc.,” said Reil. “Increasing access to primary care services is good for the community as a whole.”
The EHC project is funded by a variety of grants. The largest amount, $5.061 million, came from the office of Sen. Susan Collins.
“It is important that Maine residents in every region of our state have access to the health care services they need,” Collins said in a statement to the Maine Monitor. “This funding will support the continued expansion of Eastport Healthcare and help improve and improve the quality of the array of healthcare services provided to Eastport and surrounding rural communities.”
The bill containing the grants was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee last July, but the allocation is pending the final Congressional budget, which is currently being negotiated, said Phoebe Ferraiolo, Collins deputy communications director.
An additional $281,400 came from an emergency rural health grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Service in Maine. Rhiannon Hampson, the department's state director, said the Eastport Community Health Center project is not a one-time investment.
Credits: Photo by Alan Kryszak.
The nonprofit built a 10,000-square-foot facility in Machias to replace an aging and cramped building that previously housed EHC services.
“This is not a story about lottery winners and saying, 'Oh, maybe that community got lucky because they took advantage of that grant,'” Hampson said. “It's really happening across the state. It's happening all over the country. This is part of an overall movement of investing in rural health centers.”
The project also received state funding from the Maine Thrive Grant. The $500,000 forgivable loan will fund the purchase of the property and help pay for other projects.
Krajuusi said the community health center's mission remains the same as it was in the 1970s, when Eastport leaders first envisioned a public health model: providing quality behavioral, dental and primary care services to patients regardless of their ability to pay. to Washington County. .
As a federally qualified community health center that receives funding from the federal government to compensate for lost income, EHCs are required to price their services on a sliding scale based on household income. EHC is one of six health centers serving Washington County in the East Grand region, which borders Milbridge, Harrington, Lubec, Eastport, Calais, Princeton and Aroostook counties.
Clinics operated by the Indian Health Service also provide primary and other health care services to members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Pleasant Point and Indian Township, and community needs from diabetes to substance use disorders have also skyrocketed. There is.
“Even if every medical center doubled, tripled, quadrupled access to care, we still wouldn't be able to change the situation, because nationally the situation is really desperate,” Pleasant said. said Jesse Bean, director of health at Point Health Center.
In 2023, county community health centers received a total of $6,236,471 in funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. The agency makes grants to local health centers to meet the needs of communities that often live in poverty.
Some community health centers, such as EHC, work with patients to address the various barriers people face when trying to access health care, such as food insecurity, housing disparities, and lack of reliable transportation. We are appointing staff.
Staff arrange rides to appointments, help patients apply for Maine Care and low-income housing, and connect patients with a myriad of community resources, including food banks.
“As a health center, we are committed to serving not only our patients, but our community as best we can,” Krajewski said. “We are a safety net with our partner hospitals.”
This story was first published main monitor, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization.For regular coverage from the Monitor, sign up for the free Monitor newsletter here.
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