On Friday, November 22 at 10 a.m., WERU begins a new monthly call-in radio program that will address public policy relating to quality health care access in Maine. The program will be complimented and augmented by a series of "study circle" community discussions in several representative communities throughout the WERU signal area, as well as an enhanced web page where you can listen to recordings of the health programs and read materials relating to the study circles. This project is a joint effort between WERU and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Healthy Peninsula Project and the Hancock County Planning Commission as primary community partners. The project is funded by two major grants totaling approximately $90,000, one from the Maine Health Access Foundation and the other from Sound Partners for Community Health.

The Maine Health Access Foundation, Inc. (MeHAF) (www.mehaf.org)  is the state’s largest private nonprofit health care foundation. The Foundation was created as the result of the sale of the non-profit Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (a for-profit health care insurer). The proceeds of the acquisition provided the endowment that supports the Foundation’s annual grant and program activities. MeHAF’s mission is to promote affordable and timely access to comprehensive, quality health care for every Maine resident. To advance this mission, MeHAF supports strategic solutions to Maine’s health care needs through grants and other programs, particularly targeting those who are uninsured and medically underserved. The Foundation currently has assets of $88,000,000.

Barbara Peppey of the Healthy Peninsula Project (a program of Blue Hill Memorial Hospital) has been hired as part-time coordinator of the Health Care Community Dialogue Project. Barbara has extensive experience as a health care educator and organizational facilitator, and has most recently been the key community consultant to WERU’s Youth Radio Project (which itself has been supported by Maine Communities for Children/VISTA). Funds from the grants will be used for staffing, infrastructure and community outreach and engagement. The on-air call-in program will begin on November 22 and will continue on the fourth Friday of each month at 10 a.m.

Health care, universal access and quality insurance coverage are huge issues that we plan on exploring in depth over the coming year, and we hope that you’ll tune in or log on to check out the project.