U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) and Susan M. Collins (R-ME) today announced that $1.61 million in federal funding for projects in Maine has been included in the conference report for fiscal year (FY) 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education spending bill that passed the Senate late Wednesday by a vote of 56-37.
“This funding will be used to fund projects critical to the health and education of thousands of Mainers,” Senators Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement. “We are pleased the appropriations committee’s understands the importance of renovated schools and hospitals, education programs, and community outreach initiatives to the state. These programs and projects maintain Maine’s commitment to providing its children with a safe learning environment, its workers with quality training, and our sick and elderly with the care they deserve.”
At the Senators’ request, the conference report included:
$100,000 for Fish River Rural Health in Eagle Lake for Dental Expansion - Building Addition and Expansion Project
Funding will enable Fish River Rural Health to provide dental services to the residents of the St. John Valley area. Presently, preventative dental care services are available only on a limited basis, with a dental hygienist two days a month.
$147,500 for the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth for Modernization of the Emergency Department:
Funding will go toward the modernization of Maine Coast Memorial’s Emergency Department and support the construction of two trauma Rooms, ten treatment rooms and a Family and Consultation area
$107,500 for the Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle for the Northern Maine Allied Health Education and Training Center
Funding for renovation and equipment will help establish the Northern Maine Allied Health Education and Training Center on the campus of Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle. The center will house instructional laboratories to meet the growing demand for programs in nursing and allied health. The facility will feature “smart” technology enhanced classrooms, training equipment, computer labs, and other instructional and academic office space. Additionally, the facility will allow NMCC to develop and offer new programs in great demand regionally, statewide and across the country such as physical therapy assisting, dental assisting, radiography, medical assisting and medical coding.
$137,500 for St. Croix Regional Family Health Center in East Grand for Facility Expansion for Behavioral Health
Funding will allow the St. Croix Regional Family Health Center to expand its facility to help address the area’s unmet behavioral health needs. The project will add 1,750 square feet of greatly needed capacity to the health center site in Danforth for behavioral health services.
$162,500 for St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston for Patient Safety, and Outcomes Improvement Project
St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center will use its funding to invest in automated patient data technology (MediTech) and an automated medication and dispensing system (Pyxis), medical records technology, and wellness and best practice programs to reduce morbidity and mortality rates. This effort will work to capture and manage the voluminous interactions between patients and care givers and medicines and medical technologies in various settings.
$100,000 for the Community Counseling Center of Maine’s Greater Portland Trauma Assistance Network
This funding will help support the Community Counseling Center’s efforts to expand its treatment program to provide therapies to additional populations in the Greater Portland area. CCC will extend the current activities of the Trauma Intervention Program (TIP) and Greater Portland Trauma Network (GPTAN ) to include Prevention, Education and Outreach, workplace- and community-specific training, and disaster preparedness training.
$100,000 for Spurwink to Improve Early Detection, Training, Timely Access and Evaluating Best Practice Models for Child Mental Health Services in Maine
Funding will support Spurwink Services’ efforts to conduct a quantitative analysis of its residential programs with the goal of reporting best practice models on the children’s mental health population. Spurwink will also expand its current work to improve early detection of depression and autism in Maine children, train a select group of licensed and certified professionals to work with families and care givers of autistic children and improve timely access for mental health clients. The overall goal is to improve Spurwink Services’ own practices and to educate other service providers and increase the quality of care for all residential clients.
$100,000 for the Maine Lighthouse Corporation in Bar Harbor for the Therapeutic Community for Substance Abuse Treatment
The Maine Lighthouse Corporation will use its funding to establish a long-term residential treatment program, called a Therapeutic Community (TC), to treat addiction and provide ongoing support towards productive, law-abiding, drug and alcohol free lives. The Therapeutic Community will work within the continuum of care that currently exists in Maine, with close connections for referrals from hospitals, detoxification centers, drug courts, other outpatient or residential programs for clients who need longer term and more intensive therapy.
$100,000 for First Book’s Maine Rural Outreach Initiative
Funding for First Book’s Maine Rural Outreach Initiative will give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books.
$100,000 for the Cromwell Disabilities Center’s School Disability Awareness Training Program Expansion:
Funding will support the Cromwell Center’s project to involve school children in grades 3 through 5 in activities designed to foster acceptance, positive attitudes, and sensitivity towards peers and all people with all kinds of disabilities.
$100,000 for the Maine Alliance for Arts Education to Complete Education for Rural Students:
Maine Alliance for Arts Education will receive funding for its Complete Education for Rural Students program to provide access to high-quality arts education for students in rural and impoverished areas of Maine.
$147,500 for the University of Maine, Sports Done Right
Funding will support the University of Maine’s Sports Done Right initiative, a statewide and emerging national model for defining, shaping, and maintaining healthy interscholastic and youth sports programs.
$107,500 for Central Maine Community College in Auburn for Nursing Education Expansion and Outreach
In an effort to respond to the growing critical need for registered nurses in Maine, Central Maine Community College will use this funding to update and expand the nursing education facility and equipment on campus, and to extend the program off-campus to students living in areas at a distance from the main campus in Auburn. This funding will address the need for more classroom space, larger and more up-to-date labs, and greater computerization and simulation to more closely approximate the technology being used in hospitals.
$100,000 for the Waldo County Preschool & Family Services in Belfast for the Maine Early Language and Literacy Initiative
Funding would support a pilot project to guide 100 early childhood educators in research-based literacy instruction for preschool centers around the state.
Senators Snowe and Collins also supported the following projects and were pleased that funding was provided in the conference report:
$140,000 for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Maine Center for Marine Biology for facilities and equipment.
$200,000 for the Central Maine Community College in Auburn for a training program in precision metalworking and machine tool technology.
$500,000 for the Maine Centers for Women Work and Community in Augusta to undertake a women's economic development initiative.
The bill will now go back to the House for approval before proceeding to the President.
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