Boothbay Region Health Care has unveiled a new website with information about the planned Boothbay Region Health Center: www.boothbayhealthcare.org.

“We invite the community to explore the health care issues facing us here on the Boothbay peninsula as well as nationally,” Gerald Homer said. “And we invite our neighbors to become familiar with our proposal to launch a new community health center to address these issues locally.

“We have trouble getting access when we need it and when it is convenient for us. We pay too much for unnecessary diagnostic procedures, tests and treatments. Drugs are over-prescribed. Adverse reactions to drugs and medical treatments occur too often. Health outcomes are poor compared to other developed countries around the world. Unnecessary and inappropriate use of Emergency Services and Urgent Care leads to episodic care, poor continuity of care and excessive costs. Our medical problems are handled one by one rather than treating the ‘whole patient.’

“The BRHC team believes that with good, coordinated and easily accessed primary care, Emergency Room and Urgent Care visits can be cut in half, saving hundreds or thousands of dollars annually for each person. Equally important, more primary care options with convenient walk-in hours will attract more families to the region.”

We propose to build a superior practice model:

• Community-governed and controlled
• Accessible: extended office hours, same day appointments, walk-in, effective after-hours on-call
• Affordable: lowest possible costs
• Access to specialists locally
• Integrated primary care, behavioral/mental health, holistic health
• Sustainable for the long haul

More than building a superior practice model, this is about patient and community empowerment. We can motivate our community to take action:

• To take back local control of our primary health service.
• To establish a superior primary care practice model
• To increase access and to use primary health care services appropriately.
• To make both individual and community-wide choices that will result in improved health status.
• To hold both providers and patients responsible and accountable for achieving good outcomes

Every dollar donated to BRHC will be matched by an anonymous donor, up to $100,000. We hope that this incentive will open up the wallets of our year round and seasonal residents to support this new community-governed health center. With the community’s support we hope to be able to open for business before the end of the year. For more information about BRHC, please go to: boothbayhealthcare.org or contact Jerry Homer at 207-633-5203.

Boothbay Region Health Care is a Maine nonprofit corporation, in process of applying for federal tax exempt 501(c)(3) designation. Donations can be made through the Boothbay Region Health & Wellness Foundation, which is qualified as tax-exempt under IRS Code Section 501(c)(3). Donors are requested to mail checks to the Wellness Foundation at P.O. Box 335, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04537, or to donate online at boothbaywellness.org/join-support-us and note BRHC on the contribution form.

For more information contact Gerald Homer, 207-633-5203, or go to: http://boothbayhealthcare.org/contact-us-2.