Bangor health center offers wide variety of care

Penobscot Community Health Center sits quietly and unassumingly on Union Street in Bangor near the fast food chains. But don’t be fooled by its peaceful exterior. Inside the building there is quality health care happening, and a lot of it.

“We work with the whole patient,” said Vicki Rusbult, resource development manager at PCHC. “We provide care from head to toe, from mental health to podiatry and everything in between. We also provide prescriptions. And a person can get all of these services in one location.”

PCHC is a federally qualified health center, meaning they are governmentally funded with the express mission to “ensure and provide access, for all regardless of their ability to pay, to comprehensive, integrated, quality outpatient medical and dental care, mental health and prevention services.”

They strive to serve the uninsured, underinsured and low-income residents in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. This also means that the $100 annual Medicare deductible is waived. PCHC offers a sliding fee scale for patients who qualify.

“The sliding fee looks at income and expenses,” said Rusbult. “It is a current snapshot of the person’s life. There is no asset check.”

And the range of services provided by PCHC is seemingly endless. While everyone from infants to elderly can find help at PCHC, there are some things that might be of special interest to seniors, such as dental care.

“It is very important to have gums checked regularly if a person wears dentures,” said Carol Williams, dental services coordinator and hygienist. “If the person is in pain than we try to get them in for services the same day or next day. We hope they will keep coming back for comprehensive care to avoid future problems. ”

There also is case management available to patients, which helps with necessary paperwork, provides education and access to assistance programs, as well as care management of chronic diseases.

With seniors in mind, a staff position was created through a grant from the University of Maine Center on Aging Senior Sense program.

“It is the goal of this position to improve the quality of life for Maine seniors by providing access to health care, mental health care, social and financial services,” said Suzanne Ambrose-Thomas, elder services coordinator.

Among her myriad of duties, Thomas provides seniors with prescription assistance, an issue important not only to senior patients but to PCHC as well.

“We have an on-site pharmacy for PCHC patients,” said Rusbult. “Medications can be obtained at cost, and if the patient qualifies for the sliding fee scale, they can get their prescriptions at a much reduced rate. We get medications at a reduced rate so we pass that saving on to seniors.”

PCHC saved one senior, who was dropped from MaineCare because of a rise in her Social Security benefits, $53 a month on just one prescription, said Rusbult.

Other services of PCHC include psychiatry, urology, podiatry, ear, nose and throat care and pain management for such things as arthritis and back problems.

Just getting to the doctor can be a problem for some seniors. But PCHC can assist patients with their transportation needs. And the Bangor Area Transit (BAT) bus stops in front of the clinic.

For more information about PCHC, call 945-5247. This is a recording. When it starts, press 1. Then just wait, a live person will come on the line before long to answer questions or schedule an appointment.

The Eastern Agency on Aging is holding a ’50s Dance 8-11 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Elks Club in Bangor. Band Flint Hill will be playing all your musical memories from the ’50s and ’60s. Get your tickets at EAA, 450 Essex St., Bangor or at the door the night of the dance. Price is $10 for one or $15 for two, so bring a friend. All proceeds benefit EAA.

Carol Higgins is director of communications at Eastern Agency on Aging. For information on EAA, call 941-2865, or log on www.eaaa.org.