WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced today that she has successfully secured $4.74 million for Maine programs in the FY 2010 Department of Labor and Health and Human Services, and Education spending bill. This bill was approved today by the Senate Appropriations Committee. It must now be approved by the full Senate.
"This funding would be used to continue critical health and education programs in Maine," said Senator Collins. "These programs and projects maintain Maine's commitment to providing its children with a safe learning environment, its workers with quality training, and our sick and elderly with the care they deserve."
Funding, approved today by the Senate Appropriations Committee, for Maine programs is as follows:
Department of Labor
$500,000 for Local Area 1 Workforce Investment Board, Caribou
Healthcare and Labor Sector Intervention Project
This funding will be used in Aroostook and Washington Counties to train new employees for existing vacancies, and allow incumbent workers to access further training to move up the career ladder. This funding will help address the critical shortages in health care professions.
$500,000 for Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Augusta
New England Mobile Outreach Skills Training Program
Funds will help deploy the Mobile Outreach Skills Training (M.O.S.T.) Program in New England as an immediate job creation solution. M.O.S.T. is a three-phase rapid training and job placement initiative. The funding would be used to train and place people in entry-level, high wage manufacturing jobs in New England.
$200,000 for Jobs for Maine's Graduates, Inc., Augusta
Expansion Initiative
Jobs for Maine's Graduates, Inc. (JMG) provides drop-out prevention and school-to-work transition services for at-risk youth. Funding would be used to expand the JMG program through strategic partnerships on a statewide basis to improve Maine's drop-out rate, graduation rate, and post secondary attainment. Funding would help add more than 20 school-based sites by the beginning of the 2011-2012 school years.
Department of Health and Human Services
$150,000 for Maine State Board of Nursing, Augusta
Strategic Plan for Nursing Education
Funding will support nursing education and workforce data collection, analysis, and planning. The goal of this project is to create a plan to optimize the nursing educational system and to increase capacity for nursing education in Maine.
$640,000 for Eastern Maine Health Systems, Brewer
Continuum of Care Response Planning Initiative
Funding will go toward emergency preparedness planning and equipment for Home Health and Long Term Care services. All-hazards emergency planning is essential for every aspect of healthcare and there are particular issues specific to the Home Health community that needs to be addressed.
$250,000 for Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital and Nursing Home, Greenville
Equipment Upgrades
Funding will be used to replace outdated patient safety systems and equipment, upgrade cancer detection and cardiac monitoring equipment, continue the upgrade of IT patient management systems and improve outpatient surgical services.
$250,000 for Goodall Hospital, Equipment Upgrades, Sanford
Funding would go toward the purchase of fluoroscopy x-ray equipment, which will allow for a higher quality of diagnostic tests. The funding would replace x-ray equipment that is 14 years old, with new fluoroscopy x-ray equipment.
$1,000,000 for Mercy Recovery Center, Westbrook
Residential Treatment Center
Funding would be used for residential treatment programs and to support Mercy Recovery Center's efforts to establish a residential treatment center that will provide ongoing support to patients who are recovering from addiction.
$500,000 for Penobscot Bay Healthcare, Rockport
Nurse Education, Practice and Retention Initiative
Funding will expand the Nursing Education, Practice and Retention Initiative; a program designed to retain experienced nurses, train and mentor novice nurses, increase clinical training opportunities for student nurses, and enhance patient care. Funding will allow Pen Bay Healthcare, in partnership with University of Maine at Augusta, to host additional student nurses per semester for their clinical rotations, providing the venue, permissions and professional interactions required for this program and receiving in return the ability to recruit more new nurses.
$350,000 for University of Maine at Augusta's Bangor dental clinic
Dental Equipment Upgrades
Funding would replace and upgrade dental equipment at the University of Maine at Augusta's Bangor dental clinic both for re-accreditation purposes (required to continue UMA's dental hygiene program) and to continue the low-cost dental clinic services for the elderly and veterans.
$300,000 for University of Southern Maine, Portland
Simulation Laboratory Expansion for the College of Nursing and Health Professions
Funding will allow for the expansion and use of simulation technology in the existing amphitheater-style classroom allowing more students to participate in an unfolding nursing case, using a simulation model to mimic patient responses. In addition, plans include renovating and expanding the Nursing Simulation Laboratory to accommodate and outfit additional simulation rooms.
Department of Education
$100,000 for Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor
Science education initiatives
This project will enhance science education in Maine by connecting middle school and high school students and teachers to the genetics research expertise at The Jackson Laboratory through the Internet.