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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 21 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 , 2 0 1 6 H E A L T H C A R E & W E L L N E S S F O C U S providers in those communities how to prescribe opiate painkillers appropriately, as well as the opiate addiction treatment medicine known as suboxone. "We're leveraging all the strengths and talents of MaineHealth and MBH to do that," he says. "So in the 12 counties we serve, 11 hospitals are coming together with all of their facil- ities' doctors to support that model. It's a key goal for MaineHealth." Another initiative, which Merz says probably won't be completed until next year, is the creation of what he calls a "hub-and-spoke system" to ensure that people with alcohol and drug problems will receive timely appropriate care in their local communities. e system will be modeled after e EMBARK Program, a comprehensive treatment program in Mid-coast Maine that MBH is developing with Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport and Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick. e program off ers three levels of care to ensure treatment is appropriate to the severity of a patient's addiction: ¡ Intensive inpatient care, which can range from two to seven days, at the Pen Bay Medical Center's Psychiatric and Addiction Recovery Center in Rockport. ¡ Intensive outpatient services at Mid Coast Hospital Addiction Resource Center's offi ces in Brunswick and Damariscotta, which help patients withdraw from the drug they are addicted to and eventually stabilize, a healing process that can range from three to 12 weeks. ¡ Long-term substance abuse counseling at Maine Behavioral Healthcare's Rockland offi ce for 12 to 18 months, including a full-time psychiatrist and nursing support. "I visited the program and it's really outstanding," Merz says. "It's led by an addiction treatment team and it pro- vides a stable setting for people to work through their addictions. ere are med- icines out there to treat addictions, but if you don't provide the therapy along with the medicine you're just going to be spending a lot of money on medicines and people are going to fall back on their same patterns. So you have to do the two together. And that's what the hub-and- spoke system does. e 'spoke' provides the medicines and the 'hub' provides the therapy — and that's what's really going to make Maine an innovative model." FOR GROUP BENEFITS AND BUSINESS INSURANCE, JOIN THE FA M I LY AT We treat our employees like family, so we offer them a voluntary benefits plan from a family-owned company: Chalmers. —Patricia Weigel, President & CEO Norway Savings Bank Call us at 800-360-3000 or visit ChalmersInsuranceGroup.com Like us on "The Chalmers Advantage Voluntary Benefits Program enables us to offer a benefit of real value to our employees—discounted home, auto and other insurance—at no cost to us." Call Dean DeMario to learn about our full range of group benefits: 800-360-3000 Since 1978, we've been providing 'em. Seven Locations in Maine / 207.989.4824 / ces-maine.com / Engineers w Environmental Scientists w Surveyors Sensible Solutions Since 1978, we've been providing 'em. Solutions C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E »

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