There are at least three benefits of the Robert Wood John Foundation’s announcement last week that it had chosen the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine to administer a grant to improve long-term care services. Thirty communities nationally will receive money to plan for better coordinated long-term care, communities in Maine can directly or indirectly benefit from this work and the Muskie School itself will enhance its national reputation for knowledge about the care of older adults.

The grant is worth $28 million and will be distributed among the communities in two parts, $150,000 for study and planning, with 20 of the 30 communities receiving an additional $750,000 for implementing their plans. The Muskie School will serve not only to guide this process but to act as conduit for towns and cities nationally that are interested in learning from the grant communities and applying what works.

The national program director at Muskie, Elise Bolduc, has encouraged Maine cities to apply for the grants under the Community Partnerships for Older Adults. The program has a required minimum of older adults in a community needed to qualify but an exception is made for rural places that are able to demonstrate that they contain their own networks of services. Bangor certainly qualifies under that description, and its amount of services and housing for seniors seems to make it an ideal candidate for funding.

The grants, appropriately, are for more than coordinating medical services, although this is important, too. Issues like adequate transportation, nutrition and home care also are crucial to maintaining a high quality of life for many older adults. Ms. Bolduc says she sees these services not just becoming an obligation of a city, but part of a partnership between municipalities, non-profits and private businesses.

The USM community should be proud that its Muskie School was chosen to lead this program, but Maine should not be content to let it go at that. Its city leaders should examine Community Partnerships for Older Adults to see whether their communities can take part in the study and learn directly how to help improve services for seniors.