Downeast Community Partners, a service agency covering Hancock and Washington counties, will end its maternal and child health program by the end of September.
The closure of those services is due to the state of Maine declining to continue contracts for maternal and child health nursing services in all but Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Oxford and York counties. Maternal and child health nursing has been funded at DCP through a state contract for the past eight years.
“We would all love to continue with the program and the services it provides to our community members, but the lack of available funding makes that impossible,” DCP’s Maternal & Child Health Nurse Coordinator Jen Winter said. “It may not be possible to provide families with the level of preventative education and support that is available through the current program.”
The maternal and child health program at DCP had been staffed by three full-time nurses and one per-diem nurse. With DCP services closing by Sept. 30, Mainers in Down East Maine will rely on just three public health nurses that staff the Washington and Hancock County region.
Families that are not discharged from DCP care by Sept. 30 will be transitioned to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ maternal and child care public services.
The closure of the maternal and child health program comes just days after Downeast Community Partners announced it would end its long-running rural transportation program by the end of the month due to declining volunteer numbers and financial challenges.
Health care providers across the state have remained in turmoil for months, with the latest shakeup being the closure of Northern Light Health’s Bangor walk-in clinic. Northern Light Health, which is also seeking mediation to resolve its inability to ink a contract with the insurance provider Anthem, announced last Wednesday that it was reducing staff by 3%.
