By Joshua Archer
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Steven Michaud, the president of the Maine Hospital Association, took a break from Augusta to chat with local business leaders at a Caribou Rotary Club meeting on May 13 during National Hospital Week.
Michaud was born and raised in Caribou. He eventually become a social worker and in the midst of field work he fell in love with the work hospitals do and now his job is to give Maine hospitals a voice in state government.
Republican Photo/Joshua Archer
Steven Michaud, President of the Maine Hospital Association, seated in the lobby of the Caribou Inn and Convention Center before his speech to the Caribou Rotary last week.
“Our mission is to allow [hospitals] to fulfill their mission,” he said. Michaud and his team try to clear the road of any red tape that would restrict or impede hospitals from caring for their patients, “It’s a worthy cause for who I represent.”
Cary Medical Center invited Michaud to speak at Wednesday’s Rotary meeting. Michaud said the root of his message was how vital hospitals are and their relationship with rural Maine, “Hospitals’ economic linchpin is rural Maine.”
Michaud mentioned that a survey included nine rural Maine hospitals as part of a top 22 of best rural hospitals, “There’s something special going on in Maine for quality,” he said.
He knows firsthand the comfort and care rural hospitals provide. Michaud’s father’s final moments were spent at Cary Medical Center, and Michaud said the care there went from the nurses all the way up to the CEO, “these are literally angels in your room every day.”
Even simple things like Cary’s “Gel in and Gel out” policy where staff members always remember that occasional squirt of antibacterial gel on their hands has a large impact on infection control. The things hospitals do on a daily basis are things Michaud enjoys seeing. It’s why he’s up-to-bat to help hospitals do what they do best, “taking care of the sick and the injured and helping people outside the hospital,” he said.
But Michaud’s job isn’t always witnessing the great things hospitals do for their patients. They can’t always do those great things unless he’s in the ring fighting for the dollars rural hospitals depend on. Michaud faces challenges like the current declines in federal and state reimbursements to Medicare and Medicaid, and Gov. Paul LePage’s recent budget proposal has been a bit of a pain, “$50 million in cuts from government in a year with no budget problems,” Michaud said. “There isn’t a rural legislator that should vote for that cut.” The solution he says is to attract more federal dollars to Maine and that the government should “stop using Medicare as a piggy bank” to dip into.
Michaud admitted the government does want to increase funding to nursing homes and to help the disabled, “but why take away money from hospitals? Find a way without hurting rural hospitals,” he said.
Now that another National Hospital Week is in the books, Michaud’s back in Augusta. He said he’s not just a lobbyist, he’s part of what hospitals do and that sticking up for the care and compassion rural hospitals give is worth the fight.
