Providing community benefit is at the core of MaineHealth Maine Medical Center’s mission of providing care to the community, educating tomorrow’s caregivers and researching new ways to provide care.
Our 2022 Community Benefit Report highlights initiatives and activities undertaken to serve our community during the fiscal year ending in September 2022.
Community Benefit Highlights
MaineHealth Maine Medical Center (MHMMC) Portland, in partnership with Greater Portland Health, opened a recuperative care facility in FY22. With 15 beds, the facility provides high-quality, patient-centered health care that is accessible, affordable and culturally sensitive. The new recuperative care facility provides medically appropriate care in a setting that is more conducive to healing for this patient population while also making efficient use of inpatient bed capacity for acute care patients.
The NNEPC serves Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont with 24/7 toll-free telephone consultations with health care professionals and lay persons about toxic substances. MHMMC contributes funding to provide services that are not sufficiently supported by state or federal government, such as poison- and drug-related outreach education for health care professionals and lay persons, poison and drug-related research, surveillance for terrorism, tampering/contamination, unanticipated adverse drug events, food poisoning and other public health emergencies, and support for all-hazards preparedness and response.
MHMMC Portland’s Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program, in affiliation with Portland Adult Education, serves a critical need for MaineHealth and the community. Offered at no charge to students, this state-approved course incorporates experienced nursing staff as faculty/mentors within classroom presentations, skills labs, and supervised clinical experiences, highlighting our belief in CNAs as integral to the fundamentals of comfort, care, and outcomes of our patients and services. This seven-week, 180-hour program is offered six times per year and provides for the inclusion of the Maine State Registry exam at no additional fee.
The current model, the CNA Apprentice Program, instituted in FY22, is based upon hiring participants as employees throughout the course, paying wages for 28 hours per week with accrued benefits. This opportunity is with the intent for graduates to commit to a preset term of employment at MHMMC Portland as CNAs. Approximately 95% of our graduating CNA students are hired as employees of MHMMC Portland with others being hired by organizations within our community. A number of these graduates go on to become RNs, PAs, ED Techs, and other members of the health professions.
In collaboration with Good Shepherd Good Bank, MHMMC Biddeford/Sanford's food insecurity program works to support our vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America. The Prescription for Health program offers prescriptions for bags of free fresh produce to anyone in need. The produce is available at our community pharmacy in Biddeford and our laboratory in the MaineHealth Goodall Health Center in Sanford.
Parenting a new baby is an important and challenging job. Maine Families is a free program for families who are expecting a baby or have a baby that is less than three months old. The program provides advice on how to soothe a crying infant, manage sleep, deal with the stresses of parenting and more.
Maine Families sends a trained visitor to a family’s home to address any needs or concerns. They also help families make decisions about what is best for their newest family member–promoting health, safety and confidence during the critical early months of a baby’s life.
