Category Better Life

Feb 16 2016

Maine DHHS Increasing Support to Expand Capacity for Psychiatric Services in Southern Maine

02/16/2016 06:41 AM EST

 

**AUGUSTA** – The Maine Department of Health and Human Services is supporting a funding request made by Spring Harbor Hospital to reopen 12 adult psychiatric treatment beds in Westbrook.

Under this agreement, Spring Harbor will be able to function at full capacity with 100 beds available to treat those experiencing mental illness or co-occurring disorders.

“There have been far too many cases of individuals in need of inpatient psychiatric services spending countless days in hospital emergency rooms waiting for available psychiatric beds. For some, it could mean many days of waiting. While the state has long played a significant role in funding services at the two private psychiatric hospitals, Spring Harbor and Acadia Hospital in Bangor, the LePage Administration is committed to providing care to our state’s most vulnerable as quickly as possible,” said DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew.

“The re-opening of our 12-bed unit will provide access to timely treatment of acute mental health needs. Having access to more adult psychiatric beds will decrease lengths of stay in emergency departments, and provide the necessary inpatient care to smoothly transition people to the right level care in the community setting,” said Mary Jane Krebs, President of Spring Harbor.

This change will not only improve the existing process by which people receive care, but also support the mental health system within the State of Maine. As a member of Maine Behavioral Healthcare, Spring Harbor will be able to connect with other mental health providers, hospitals and primary care sites to admit patients in a timely manner with quick access to appropriate treatment.

Currently, the Hospital accommodates an average of 79 adult and adolescent patients daily. Through this funding support, Spring Harbor expects to accommodate ten additional adult patients daily in the new unit. It is important to note that State funding for opening an additional 12 beds would not be possible if the MaineCare program was still operating in a perpetual financial crisis and producing large budgetary shortfalls for Maine.

“Because of our efforts to stabilize Medicaid spending and through sound financial management, we are in a position to redirect our focus and funding to the state’s neediest and most vulnerable,” Commissioner Mayhew said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Samantha Edwards, (207) 287-4223 Samantha.Edwards@maine.gov

Amy Safford, (207)661-6616 ASafford@MaineBehavioralHealthcare.org

Feb 12 2016

LePage Administration to Preserve Access to Public Land in the Katahdin Area

 

 

LePage Administration to Preserve Access to Public Land in the Katahdin Area

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage announced today the Bureau of Parks and Lands has taken initial steps to preserve the State’s access to roughly 2,500 acres of publicly held land that is threatened by efforts to create a National Park / National Monument in the Millinocket area.

For years, the Quimby family has worked to impose a National Park on the residents of Northern Maine. When this proposal was voted on by local citizens, it was roundly rejected. Undeterred by the will of the people, Quimby’s effort continues to march forward.

“Despite lack of local support and lack of support from members of Maine’s Congressional delegation, this proposal has now changed direction,” said Governor LePage. “Through the use of high-paid lobbyists in Washington, D.C., the Quimby family has focused its efforts on lobbying the Obama Administration, seeking to have the President use sweeping authority granted to him under the Antiquities Act to unilaterally designate this area a National Monument.”

Given this threat of federal takeover, the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry today commenced efforts to re-establish access to Public Reserved Land surrounded by the Quimby property. The State has clearly established legal crossing rights to access the public’s land.

Despite these crossing rights, roads to the State’s land have been blocked and bridges have been removed. The Department, however, intends to re-establish its crossing rights and harvest timber on the public’s land, once these roads are rebuilt.

“The time is right to clearly re-establish the public’s legal rights,” said Governor LePage.
Feb 12 2016

High Schooler Recognized for Service

 

   

 

 

Maine High Schooler Recognized for Service

Old Town High School senior awarded for commitment to volunteer service in addressing autism

 

AUGUSTA – This week, Connor Archer, 17, of Stillwater was recognized for his youth volunteer service in Maine and dedication to his community by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.  Congressman Bruce Poliquin of Maine’s Second District released the following statement:

“I am so proud of Connor for his hard work to spread awareness and to educate our communities in Maine about autism and the challenges that so many people face as a result of this condition,” said Congressman Poliquin.  “Because of his efforts and dedication, Connor has raised more than $12,000 for organizations that aid individuals with such needs.

“Connor, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 3 years old, is a shining example of what it means to be a dedicated person of service in Maine’s communities.  I am thrilled that Connor has been formally recognized for his work and hope that he will continue to be a leader and an important part of the efforts to help those who face these challenges.”
Jul 29 2015

The Fiction We’ve Become

The ruling has come down on the Tom Brady suspension and, no surprise; the NFL is trying to save face by keeping the suspension in place. The so-called “save the integrity of the game” ruling is nothing more than a sham to cover the lack of integrity repeatedly exhibited by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Remember, this is the man who tried to let Ray Rice, running back for the Baltimore Ravens, off with a mere slap on the wrist for the crime of beating his pregnant fiancée senseless in plain sight of a video camera. Goodell changed his ruling to fit the crime only after a major outcry, starting with a scathing public renunciation from Governor Paul LePage, created a messy PR disaster for the Commissioner.

Ah yes, Roger Goodell, such a shining example of conviction for the youth of our Nation. For all his bluster about defending the integrity of the game, no one individual has done more to damage the integrity of the NFL than Roger Goodell. Still, he knows how to make a stand on air pressure, because we all know ball pressure is far more important that pregnant women…right??

And the Wells Report was so definitive about Brady’s ba….I mean, air pressure. Mr. Wells stated emphatically that he was pretty sure that probably Tom Brady maybe knew about the possibility that somebody somewhere was doing something that might be bad without any real proof of how the bad thing was done but everyone knows that Brady knows so we know that he most likely did something that we are not sure of… Doesn’t that just make you want to shout Truth, Justice, and the American Way? Really? Because I don’t!

But this is where we are as a society. We have become a people who would rather make decisions based upon what we want truth to be rather than discover what truth is. Brady’s…air pressure aside, the NFL is determined to destroy the legacy of the greatest quarterback who has ever played the game because he wins too much, plays for a coach who pushes the limits in all directions to find every edge to win, and they both don’t give a rat’s diseased riddled hindquarters what the NFL thinks of them.

Still, we love fiction over fact. For years we’ve exhorted children to believe in themselves. We’ve preached the virtues of being happy and validated in their own unique self. There’s no one like them…right? Unless you are superstar Olympic athlete who’s decided he’s not happy with who he is and wants his he to be she or a white female whose not happy that she is white and wants to be black, now that’s courageous according to the new world view.

Imagine all the children we’ve been teaching to “be happy with who they are” that must now face a new dilemma in their young minds, as if they needed a new dilemma, but here it is. Should I be happy with who I am or courageously unhappy with who I am? My, the contortions and convolutions we will go through as a nation not to face the truth.

Even our Supreme Court has contorted and twisted itself so that it might conjure a “right” that does not exist. In order to render a decision they deemed satisfactory to the gay community, the Justices of the Supreme Court have trampled State Sovereignty, Religious Liberty, and the Freedom of Speech, clearly defined in the Constitution, to create a “right” not clearly defined in the Constitution. If history is a lesson, those who make a decision based upon “Well everybody knows its true” more often than not end up in the category of “My God, what have we done?”