Gov. Paul LePage’s administration has cut off state funding that the four federally recognized Native American tribes in Maine were using to plan an expansion of addiction treatment and mental health care in their communities.
The move comes six years after Maine started including the tribes in state-funded efforts to combat major health problems. Tribal leaders now worry that recent initiatives to develop an addiction treatment center serving tribal members, improve life for seniors, and tackle other health challenges in the tribal communities in eastern and northern Maine could stall.
The public health work “was beginning to have some positive results, and, now, all of a sudden, it’s gone,” said Theodore Bear Mitchell I, a former Penobscot Indian Nation representative in the Maine Legislature. “We’re used to it. We’ve gone through it for 220 some-odd years. They promised us one thing, and, after a while, they do something else.”
The most recent cut, effective July 1, eliminated the position of a tribal public health liaison whose responsibilities included educating tribal communities about chronic disease prevention and management, representing the tribes on a range of state health boards and committees, and coordinating community efforts to improve the health of the approximately 10,000 tribal members in Maine.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “LePage cuts last direct ties with tribes on public health,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Matthew Stone, please follow this link to the BDN online.
