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V O L . X X V I N O. X X I I H E A LT H C A R E / W E L L N E S S A ccess to health care has always been a little precarious in northern Somerset County and things got worse three years ago, when 24/7 on-call emergency care ended at the Jackman Community Health Center. With the nearest hospitals 90 minutes or more away, and the nearest paramedics about two hours away in Waterville — in good weather — Jackman-area residents needed a solution. at solution, with its roots in an ongoing years-long effort to involve paramedics in community health care, has been found. e Critical Access Physician Extender Program, a pilot program funded in part with a recent $1.2 million grant, gives paramedics hospital training needed to provide emergency in-clinic services. e program, while in some ways unique to Jackman, may be a model that will help solve rural health care access issues in Maine and beyond, says Lori Dwyer, president and CEO of Bangor- based Penobscot Community Health Care, which oversees the health center. Solutions to rural health care access require out of the box thinking, Dwyer says. e program "gets paramedics off the ambulance" so they can provide care wherever it's needed. "Access and speedy care are a huge challenge in our area and all the areas we serve, Bangor and north of here," she says. "But it's also an issue in many parts of southern Maine. "Expanding care is the only way to solve the access challenge," she says. "We can't physician-hire our way out of it." Paramedics have the skill set Created and directed by Jonnathan Busko, medical director of the emer- gency department at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, the program provides hospital training that, combined with a telehealth connection to the hospital, allows them to perform emergency care procedures. e program is a partnership between Penobscot Community Health Care, St. Joseph Medical Center, Scarborough- based North East Mobile Health Closing the rural health care access gap Jackman takes that one step further, bringing round-the-clock emergency care back to northern Somerset County B y M a u R e e n M i L L i k e n F O C U S Butch Russell, COO of North East Mobile Health Services, based in Scarborough, which is partnering with Penobscot Community Health Care and St. Joseph Medical Center in Bangor on a paramedicine pilot program in Jackman. F I L E P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R Paramedics are really good at the skills piece. The doctor is really good at telling if the patient is stable or needs further care. — Butch Russell COO of North East Mobile Health Services S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 2 0 26

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