Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 17 S E P T E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 1 8 F O C U S H E A L T H C A R E Summer community donors For hospitals, Maine's summertime influx also represents a larger donor community that adds to the year-round base. Coastal summer communities can be significant players in the financial health of local hospitals, says Michaud. "ere are people of means who have summer homes in those areas, so there's a donor effect," he says. All hospitals have fundraising campaigns, he notes. But in areas like Aroostook County and northern Penobscot County, sustainability remains a struggle that's more significant than for popular summer communities. "ey have donors, but nowhere near what MDI and other coastal town have," Michaud says. "For coastal com- munities, it's significant." "Many of our donors are from the year-round community, but many of the large gifts come from the summer community," says Lani Naihe, MDI Hospital's director of advancement. One example is the hospital's new palliative care program, now in its sec- ond year. Talks with a previous donor, who is a summer resident, resulted in partial funding for a three-year pilot program from the Atlanta-based Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation, which has funded other Maine organizations. "ey're based in Atlanta and sum- mer on the island," says Naihe. "ey've slowly developed a relationship with us and have learned about what we're doing. ey made an initial investment in our oral health program," a dental center in nearby Southwest Harbor. "ey got to know one of our physicians, who was spearheading that project, and he's the same physician who spear- headed the palliative care project." "It's about the word 'relationship,'" says Blank. "It always goes back to whether the donor is comfortable that the values exemplified in the work that gets done are consistent with their values and what they think is important." Summer residents in midcoast Maine are eager to ensure their com- munity's health care system is stable, says MaineHealth's Wade. "A lot of people, whether they're here for three months or for vacation, want to make sure there's good-quality health care in the region in which they're liv- ing," she says. "And many are looking to retire here. So they're very much invested in the health care system." Laurie Schreiber, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at lschreiber @ mainebiz.biz How MDI Hospital created partnership with Penn Medicine E very summer, Bar Harbor's Mount Desert Island Hospital hosts third- and fourth-year residents from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. They work two-week rotations at the hospital as part of a pro- fessional and teaching exchange established in 2011. The benefit goes both ways, all parties agree. At MDI Hospital, the residents fill out staff and provide a teaching experience for medical professionals. In turn, Penn Med residents get a great education in a rural setting with fewer resources and smaller teams, says Dr. Jill Baren, a Penn Med professor of emergency medicine. "It helps shape their medical decision-making," says Baren. "It's great expo- sure that requires a different set of skills. For example, we infrequently transfer patients to another institution. But at MDI, the resident learns how that's done, if a patient needs care that can't be provided there. They have to learn how to advocate for the patient, what method of transport to use and how to get them to the next level of care they need." MDI Hospital President and CEO Art Blank agrees. "When an emergency medicine resident in Philadelphia sees a patient with a kidney problem, they've got a nephrologist looking over their shoulder," he says. "When they walk into our emergency department, that nephrologist is still in Philadelphia. Of course, we have the systems to make sure they get the expertise they need, because we have relationships in Bangor and beyond. But it's a very different situation for those residents. They've got to do more critical thinking." Many of the large gifts come from the summer community — Lani Naihe MDI Hospital's director of advancement

• Cover