Ashland Health Center completes transition
Patients will notice little difference — the faces and the quality of care will be the same — but as of Feb. 1, the Ashland Health Center completed the transition announced last year from being a TAMC-run facility to one of five Katahdin Valley Health Centers (KVHC) operating as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in rural communities in northern Maine.
The collaborative effort that helped secure a $300,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided for the expansion of health care services offered locally to residents in the greater Ashland area. In addition to comprehensive primary health services, oral health and behavioral health services will also be available at the clinic, which is located at 33 Walker St. in Ashland at the Virginia Pinkham Building.
“TAMC will provide specialty services in collaboration with KVHC. The new TAMC service that will open in Ashland in the coming months is ophthalmology. We have also discussed expanding our occupational medicine to the community,” said Vice President of the TAMC Medical Group Glenda Dwyer, RN, MSB.
The FQHC model offers access to health care in an underserved area or population, regardless of age or ability to pay. Dwyer says working with KVHC to bring this service to Ashland comes from a desire of TAMC to collaborate with FQHCs to assist patients in receiving the services they need with the financial assistance that makes it possible.
“We both have the same goal, to serve our patients and retain the great staff that has worked at the Ashland Health Center and now works at the same facility for KVHC,” said Dwyer.
Under the model of care, KVHC will integrate treatment with TAMC, and KVHC’s Ashland providers will have privileges at TAMC’s A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital in Presque Isle.
“Our primary goal is have this change be as seamless as possible for our patients in Ashland,” said KVHC Chief Executive Officer Durward L. Humphrey. “Honestly, our goal is to have minimal change out of the gate. The primary changes we want our patients to see are an extension of primary care services and the benefits of being a patient of an FQHC. We are very excited to offer our patient assistance programs. We will have a patient assistance specialist on site and ready to help patients apply for our sliding fee discount, our prescription drug program and our outreach and enrollment activities.”
Patients can make appointments by calling the existing Ashland phone number (435-6341) or they can call the Katahdin Valley Health Clinic at 1-866-366-5842.
KVHC operates four other FQHCs in Houlton, Island Falls, Millinocket and Patten.
