On March 11, U.S. Sen. Angus King announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration has awarded a total of $5,510,057 in grant funding to support operations at health care centers across the state.
“In a rural state like Maine, access to local, high-quality health care can often be a challenge,” King said. “That’s why funding like this is vitally important. By supporting the operations of these health centers in Aroostook, Hancock and Penobscot counties, this funding is helping to make health care more accessible for people who may otherwise have a difficult time finding it.”
The funding is awarded as follows:
• Katahdin Valley Health Center, and its five associated locations in Ashland, Houlton, Island Falls, Millinocket and Patten, which serve approximately 10,000 people, will receive a total of $2,612,742;
• Fish River Rural Health and its two associated locations in Eagle Lake and Fort Kent, which serve approximately 4,000 people, will receive a total of $1,325,184; and
• Bucksport Regional Health Center in Bucksport, which serves approximately 8,000 people, will receive $1,572,131.
Under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Health Resources and Services Administration is tasked with improving access to health care by building healthy communities, strengthening the healthcare workforce and achieving health equity. The agency’s programs target the economic and medically vulnerable as well as the geographically isolated. The grant funding provided to KVHC, BRHC and FRRH are annual awards in a three-year cycle, and are funded through the Affordable Care Act.
