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Miles for Smiles

BANGOR – February was National Children’s Dental Health Month. It is fitting that a $90,000 grant has been awarded from the Anthem Foundation and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine to Penobscot Community Health Care to support ongoing operations of the Miles For Smiles mobile dental clinic.

The clinic has provided a dental home to thousands of low-income children in rural areas of northern, eastern and central Maine. The shortage of dentists in rural Maine means many residents have no access to dental care.

Since it began operations in November 2003, the mobile dental center has provided more than 22,637 individual visits for 8,466 patients under the age of 19, many for the first time in their lives. The mobile clinic has logged more than 30,000 miles in 39 months of operation.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine worked closely with Penobscot Community Health Care to start the program, providing both planning and substantial financial support amounting to over one million dollars.

“Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s ongoing support of Miles For Smiles underscores its commitment to the oral health care for children in Maine,” said Ken Schmidt, Penobscot Community Health Care chief executive officer.

PCHC, a nonprofit agency founded in 1997, is the only federally qualified health center in the Bangor area. Its mission is to ensure access to comprehensive and integrated out-patient health care services to those on MaineCare and Medicare and those with and without insurance, regardless of their ability to pay.

PCHC clinics are staffed by some 130 clinicians, including medical and dental providers and community medical specialists. The agency provided more than 150,000 visits for about 36,000 patients in 2006, and projects more than 220,000 visits for 45,000 individuals in 2007.

Seventeen clinics in the Bangor area offer a wide range of services including family medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics, nursing home care, psychiatry, mental health counseling, physical and occupational therapy, lab, x-ray and pharmacy services.

PCHC also operates a large public health dental clinic in Bangor. PCHC has a team of medical specialists who deliver allergy, cardiology, gynecology, orthopedics, podiatry care, ear-nose-throat care, pain management, pediatric dermatology, urology care, wound care and osteopathic manipulative therapy.

PCHC provides healthcare by offering services downtown in Bangor at the Summer Street Clinic for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. All PCHC services are provided with a sliding fee scale based on income to make certain that everyone can obtain care.

Cookbook recipes

BANGOR – Take out those family recipe cards, and cookbooks. The Warren Center for Communication and Learning is looking for tasty dishes for its soon to be published cookbook.

The center is collecting recipes for main dishes, side dishes, desserts, appetizers and anything else you can think of.

Recipes will be accepted until Monday, April 16. Send your recipes to: The Warren Center Cookbook, c/o Mary-Anne Saxl, 175 Union St., Bangor, ME 04401. Or e-mail recipes to masaxl@warrencenter.org.

The cookbook will be available for Christmas season 2007.

Twins Support Group

BANGOR – Beginning in April, the Bangor Area Twins Support Group for parents of twins will change its meeting time and date to 6-8 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month in the Forsyth Conference Room at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

This month, the group meets at 7 p.m. Thursdays. For information, contact Nicolle at 223-4780.

Dental care

AUGUSTA – Elderly and disabled adults in Maine have received more than $1 million worth of free care through the Maine Donated Dental Services program.

“We are very proud of the care our dentists are providing to people in need,” said Frances Miliano, Maine Dental Association executive director. “While it is only one program in which our dentists participate to provide care to under-served Maine residents, it provides much needed services to the elderly and adult disabled communities.”

The program was launched in 1999 through the joint efforts of the Maine Dental Association and the Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped. Statewide, 125 dentists participate in the program. Nearly $167,000 of free care was provided by Maine dentists last year.

Recently the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations of the Maine Legislature considered the continuation of funding for the program’s coordinator position.

“We will vigorously support the continuation of this program,” Miliano said. “DDS provides important advocacy for the elderly and disabled community. By connecting participating dentists with individuals who need but can’t afford care, the coordinating aspect of this program is key to its success.”

A statewide advisory committee guides the program and includes members of the Maine Dental Association. The goal for 2007 is to provide $182,000 worth of donated care. The average value of care for each individual is $2,500.

“Our dentists give many hours of free care to Maine people in need,” Miliano added. “Some of the care is through organized programs like Give Kids a Smile and Special Smiles, and some is as simple as helping a patient that may have lost a job or has financial trouble.”

The program is a national in scope and will generate $16.4 million worth of donated care during the 2006-2007 fiscal year.

Cancer society volunteers

BANGOR – More than 7,000 Maine residents are living with cancer every day. Because of advances in medical research, there will be cures for many.

But there are times when a person navigating the health care system feels like being lost in the woods without a map or compass. It does not need to be that way.

In July 2005, the American Cancer Society was awarded a $199,916 two-year grant from the Maine Health Access Foundation to train volunteer Patient Navigators in rural eastern and northern Maine to provide “hands on” guidance to help newly diagnosed cancer patients find their way through the health care system.

Navigators help cancer patients and their families find resources for transportation and daycare, help identify resources, serve as supportive listeners, acknowledge cultural differences to doctors and patients, and provide information and literature about obtaining treatment and referrals.

Recently, the society received a generous planned gift from local Maine residents Otis and Ruth Albee of Rockland. Albee set up a trust fund to benefit his wife; at the end of her life, more than $200,000 was given to the American Cancer Society to benefit Maine cancer patients. The funds will be used to continue this innovative volunteer program for an additional three years.

The American Cancer Society, in collaboration with the Bangor Adult Education, will offer a four-part volunteer training for those who are interested in becoming Volunteer Patient Navigators 6-9 p.m. Thursdays, March 1, 8, 15 and 22, at Bangor High School, 885 Broadway.

Volunteers must be over 21 years of age, have knowledge of or willingness to learn cancer-related resources, and be willing to dedicate five to ten hours a month for a six-month commitment.

To register for this session, contact the registrar at Bangor Adult Education at 992-5523. To learn more about the Patient Navigator Program, call Michelle Sheldon at 433-7615.