By Theron Larkins
Staff writer
CARIBOU — Kris Doody, CEO of Cary Medical Center, appeared before the House Veterans Affairs Committee on June 18 to inform lawmakers in Washington on the successes of Project ARCH and the need to secure an extension to fund the program that provides health care to veterans who live in northern Maine.
Congressman Mike Michaud included the program in a 2008 bill he helped pass, bringing ARCH to Maine and providing high-quality health care to veterans in or near their local communities.
“I was pleased that Kris Doody had the opportunity to join our committee today and share the successes of the ARCH program with members of Congress. I firmly believe that Project ARCH can offer us insightful guidance as we look for national solutions to the VA crisis,” said Michaud. “I’m proud of Project ARCH, and I continue to hear from so many veterans all across The County who have been able to receive high-quality medical care, close to the comforts of their family and friends, because of ARCH. I won’t stop working until the VA commits to officially extending this critical program.”
“Project ARCH is working. Ask our veterans in northern Maine,” Doody said in her testimony. “There is no doubt that veterans living in remote, frontier areas of our country are at a tremendous disadvantage when it comes to accessing care … It takes time and effort to build the trust of veterans, many of whom have never approached the VA for health care. At Cary Medical Center we made this a top priority and we have demonstrated that when treated with respect, gratitude, and compassion, the veteran community will not only respond but they will create an unbreakable bond and reach out to their comrades who may be in need of care.”
Cary Medical Center is one of five facilities in the country selected as program test sites. Under Project ARCH, veterans in northern Maine no longer have to drive hundreds of miles to receive health care, but are able seek out treatment at Cary.
According to Doody’s testimony, Cary Medical Center — through Project ARCH — has enrolled approximately 1,400 veterans, who have had more than 3,000 consults. Doody estimates that the travel costs alone for these veterans to travel to Togus for those appointments would have exceeded $600,000.
“When I testified to the Veterans Affairs House Subcommittee in September 2012, I was pleased to report the good news about Project ARCH at Cary Medical Center. Now, in June of 2014, I am delighted to inform you that the good news just keeps getting better. The original goals of Project ARCH were to expand access to eligible veterans for health care services, including specialty care and hospitalization, close to home. Now, after nearly three years of working with Project ARCH, we can confirm that not only can we deliver on these goals, but we can go beyond.
“Over the past three years, Cary Medical Center working together with VA Project ARCH staff, have enrolled some 1,400 Veterans who experienced more than 3,000 consults at our hospital. If we assume that these same veterans would have sought out VA care at Togus, our single VA hospital in Maine, hundreds of miles away from Cary, travel costs alone could have exceeded $600,000. Still, The benefits of Project ARCH go well beyond travel savings, we are saving lives and improving quality of life for our veterans in northern Maine.
“Listen to what Peter Miesburger, U.S. Air Force Retired, had to say about Project ARCH. As Peter explains, ‘It’s the best thing since peanut butter.’ Peter is a 77-year old Korean War veteran. He suffered a broken hip on January 30 when he fell at his home in Caribou, but thanks to Project ARCH, he didn’t have to worry about a 250-mile ambulance ride.
‘It was miserable outside, snowing, cold, a typical northern Maine winter day,’ said Peter — a former Air Force firefighter who retired in 1974. ‘God only knows what would have happened.’
“John Wallace is an Army veteran, and at 67 had been suffering with a bad knee ever since he jumped out of a helicopter in Vietnam. Project ARCH encouraged him to seek treatment and he successfully had arthroscopic knee surgery to alleviate his chronic knee pain. “I’m feeling great, although my knee can still predict the weather,” he said. “Any veteran you talk to up here, we’ve all been very happy with the results.”
During a time when many VA facilities are being targeted and ridiculed, due to recent VA scandals, the ARCH pilot program through Cary seems to be shining through as a prime example of how our nation’s veterans deserve to be treated — which is quickly and thoroughly.
“While we can speak to the remarkable success of our experience with ARCH we have also faced challenges. Being a rural, community hospital, we struggle with the 14-day rule. This requirement of the VA to have the veteran seen by a specialist within 14 calendar days of authorization is simply not realistic. We have however, dramatically reduced wait times and because we are flexible, are able to respond to unique circumstances, such as emergent or urgent care.”
“Project ARCH is working. Ask our veterans in northern Maine. There is no doubt that veterans living in remote, frontier areas of our country are at a tremendous disadvantage when it comes to accessing care. Even with access to care closer to home, veterans must be made aware of the options and after years of staying in the shadows, they must be encouraged to come forward. It takes time and effort to build the trust of veterans, many of whom have never approached the VA for health care,” said Doody. “At Cary Medical Center, we made this a top priority and we have demonstrated that when treated with respect, gratitude and compassion, the veteran community will not only respond, but they will create an unbreakable bond and reach out to their comrades who may be in need of care.
“We recognize that Project ARCH is a ‘Pilot.’ Some have said that the results we are presenting are anecdotal or that with only five locations across the nation the numbers are not high enough to make any predictions for a national expansion. We respectfully disagree,” said Doody. “We believe that Project ARCH has tremendous potential to save the lives of our nation’s honorable and courageous veterans, save millions of dollars and ultimately advance the health-status of millions of veterans nationwide. We urge Congress to extend Project ARCH to expand the program in other rural areas of our country, where veterans live hundreds of miles from the nearest VA facility.”
“We truly believe that the system we have built at Cary Medical Center and our relationship with VA health care is a model for the nation. We would love nothing more than to share our success and model with other rural areas of America.”
