Healthcare Services to Expand in Ashland in the Coming Months
A collaborative effort that helped secure a $300,000 federal grant will provide for the expansion of healthcare services offered locally to residents in the Ashland area.
The funding, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will pave the way to establish a Federally Qualified Health Center in Ashland.
In the coming months, primary healthcare services provided to area residents at the Ashland Health Center will transition from TAMC to Katahdin Valley Health Center (KVHC), which operates four other facilities in Houlton, Island Falls, Millinocket and Patten. In addition to the comprehensive primary healthcare services currently offered, grant funding will allow for the addition of oral health and behavioral health to people in the region of all ages regardless of ability to pay.
The Ashland Health Center will be operated as a free standing clinic integrated within KVHC’s network of care. It will be housed on the upper level of the Virginia S. Pinkham Building located at 33 Walker Street in Ashland.
TAMC worked closely with KVHC in supporting the grant application. Under the model of care, KVHC will integrate treatment with TAMC, and KVHC’s Ashland providers will have privileges at TAMC’s A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital in Presque Isle.
The first expansion of TAMC specialty services will be offered shortly after the start of the new year at the Ashland Health Center. Renovation work on the ground level of the Ashland Health Center will begin in the coming weeks to allow for TAMC’s Eye Care services to expand into the region. Dr. Mark Morin, an Ashland native and ophthalmologist, will begin to see patients in his hometown on a regular basis at the facility.
The transition is expected to be complete before March 1st.
Funding of KVHC’s $301,458 to establish an FQHC in Ashland was made available under the Affordable Care Act. Nationwide, 236 health center programs will receive approximately $150 million in grant awards to serve more than 1.25 million additional patients.
More From
