Pair of grants aimed at improving health in the region

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Recently the Piscataquis Regional YMCA and Charlotte White Center both received a grant from Maine Health Access Foundation health funding initiatives designed to help plan ways to improve and support the health of residents in Piscataquis County.
    “These are two terrific funding opportunities for the community,” said Erin Callaway, who was recently hired by the PRYMCA as project coordinator for its grant. “It’s all about collecting input, building on the resources we have now and really involving the community.”

    The grant for the PRYMCA is from the Maine Health Access Foundation’s Healthy Communities program and the Charlotte White Center’s funding is through an initiative called Thriving in Place (TIP) Across the Continuum of Care. While the grants are separate, there is an overlap and Callaway is working with Charlotte White Center Integrated Health and Senior Services Coordinator Meg Callaway, who is coordinating the TIP grant. The two joked that despite having the same uncommon last name, they are not related.
    “We are using local community knowledge and resources to improve health in Piscataquis County,” Meg Callaway said. She explained the TIP grant is “all about finding ways to help people with chronic health conditions stay in their homes and avoid nursing facilities.”
    She said this can include younger adults, mentioning those coping with cystic fibrosis as an example, “but in most cases we are going to be talking about the elderly population.” Callaway said costs for care in some situations can become high and unsustainable.
    “Whatever we develop, it would be great if people of all conditions could benefit,” she said. A stakeholder meeting on the TIP grant had 17 community providers in attendance, and Callaway said a steering committee is working on developing all of the ideas presented. Some possibilities suggested to help residents stay in their homes include a program to have walkways shoveled, equipment to let individuals measure their own vital signs, daily check-ins with a dispatcher to say they are OK and Web-based cameras to look in on those in the early stages of dementia.
    “It’s that wide-open and it’s our job to winnow down the ideas to those small enough to do and big and enough to matter,” Callaway said, with Erin Callaway saying this also applies to the Healthy Communities grant.
    Meg Callaway said the two funding packages are both planning grants, running from Nov. 1, 2013 to Oct. 31 of this year. She said this summer the information gathered will be used in the application process for grant funding to implement the ideas and programs developed between now and then.
    Erin Callaway said the Healthy Communities project is “really about looking across the community to cast a large net to hear what the community has to say about health, what issues are most important to them, things that are challenging to lead healthy lives and what they are doing that can help.”
    She said a stakeholder group is being developed, with an effort made to avoid duplicating the work of the TIP stakeholder group but still sharing information between the two. “The ideas that don’t fit the TIP may fit in with Healthy Communities,” Meg Callaway said.
    “Having a healthy community has to do with more than people being able to get to the doctor and hospital when they need to,” Erin Callaway said. “It’s encouraging communities to look at all of the different factors in people’s health.”
    “Being able to participate in social activities is really part of a healthy life,” Callaway said about one health factor that may not immediately come to mind. She said reliable transportation is connected to social engagement and helping keep area residents healthy.
    “It’s about looking across the board at all the things that influence healthy living,” Callaway said, mentioning programs to provide job skill training as well as walking routes and parks for recreation and ride share initiatives and youth activities as other examples across the spectrum.
    “It’s all about what members of the community feel would be helpful,” Callaway said. “This project does not assume we are lacking anything at all, it’s really to engage the community and look around at what is here already and to connect the dots.”
    “Already people are discovering things they weren’t aware of that are available,” Meg Callaway said about those involved in the two grants.
    Erin Callaway said the intention is to open the process “to everyone in the community, it’s really important everybody’s voice is in this as much as possible.”
    “With the TIP we have the University of Maine Center of Aging facilitating with assessments, going to the homes of people willing to be interviewed on what it’s like living with chronic conditions,” Meg Callaway said about another method to reach a different facet of the community.
    A lunchtime celebration of the two grants is scheduled for Tuesday, March 18 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the PRYMCA on Park Street. Meg Callaway said officials with the Maine Health Access Foundation will be present and the public is invited to the “opportunity to come and hear more about this.” Those attending are asked to RVSP at 564-7111.
    “On the 26th of March we are planning to have the first stakeholder meeting for the Healthy Community project,” Erin Callaway said. She said in late April and early May public forums are planned, with the sessions scheduled for Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford and Milo — more information to be announced.
    “We will take the time to let the people who come know about our projects, and the purpose is to really engage them,” she said.
    Meg Callaway said she is planning a pair of surveys, with one geared toward the general public and the other for providers. The public will be asked about their experiences while the provider survey will inquire about the expressed needs of patients.
    The two said they are using existing data when they can, such as housing reports and aging statistics to be as effective as possible.
    “We are planning to attend a lot of major events throughout the summer in the area,” Erin Callaway said, mentioning the Piscataquis Heritage Hot Air Balloon Festival, Maine Whoopie Pie Festival, Piscataquis River Festival in Guilford and Piscataquis Valley Fair as opportunities for she and Meg Callaway to meet and engage the public. “I want it to be fun and find ways to get people to enjoy this process,” she said.
    For more information, please contact Meg Callaway at 947-1410, 1-877-258-7278 or meg.callaway@charlottewhite.org or Erin Callaway at 564-7111 or e.callaway@prymca.org.