WASHINGTON D.C – U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine) today announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded a total of $11,668,486 for four community health centers throughout Maine. The funding will be awarded to Regional Medical Center in Lubec, Healthreach Community Health Centers in Waterville, Health Access Network Inc. in Lincoln, and Portland Community Health Center to improve health services and support health care professionals.

“Community health centers provide essential services and make a tremendous difference in the lives of Maine people,” Senators Collins and King said in a joint statement. “This important investment will support these health professionals as they continue to help ensure access to top-quality care for our families, friends, and neighbors.”     

The funding is allocated as follows:

·         Regional Medical Center in Lubec received $1,276,277.

·         Healthreach Community Health Centers in Waterville received $3,987,494.

·         Health Access Network, Inc. in Lincoln received $2,861,773.

·         Portland Community Health Center received $3,542,942. 

This grant funding is awarded through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within HHS that is tasked with improving access to health care by building healthy communities, strengthening the health care workforce, and achieving health equity. HRSA’s programs target the economic and medically vulnerable as well as the geographically isolated. The grants are awarded under HRSA’s Health Center Cluster program.

Community health centers (CHCs) provide care to more than 200,000 people in Maine and are a critical part of the nation’s primary care network. Across the nation, CHCs serve approximately 26 million patients at over 10,000 sites in both rural and urban communities in every state in the nation. In 2017, community health centers were the medical home for one in twelve Americans, one in ten children, one in six Americans living in rural areas, and more than 330,000 of our nation’s veterans.