On Thursday, June 19 at 6:30 p.m., Jane B. Good and Margaret Perritt, vice presidents of the Boothbay Region Health & Wellness Foundation, will provide an update on the status of St. Andrews’ 24/7 urgent care and on the provision of more skilled nursing beds for the Boothbay peninsula.

This open public meeting will take place at St. Columba’s Church, Emery Lane, Boothbay Harbor. Jane and Margaret will explain where we are in the Certificate of Need Process and what the next steps are before we will be able to have the 24/7 urgent care coverage that Mary Mayhew, Maine’s Health and Human Services Commissioner, has required in issuing the retroactive approval for the creation of Lincoln County Healthcare in 2008 and the merger of Miles Memorial Hospital into St. Andrews Hospital in 2013. This public forum is part of the “Third Thursdays” series of educational workshops about health and wellness issues sponsored by the Wellness Foundation.

After the urgent care status update, Foundation President Patty Seybold will lead a “customer co-design session” for community members to map out the ideal patient experiences they want to have in dealing with the top diseases on the Boothbay peninsula: substance abuse, mental illness, cancer, heart disease and stroke, respiratory diseases, diabetes and obesity. The session will close by 8:30 p.m.

Patty Seybold explained the purpose for the co-design session this way: “After two years of crisis due to losing our healthcare safety net with the relocation of St. Andrews Hospital and its Emergency Room to Damariscotta, we’ve had a wake up call. Many of us on the Boothbay peninsula feel we should take more responsibility for our own health and wellness. We can’t assume that a major corporation will be here to take care of us. We need to rebuild our own capacity to take care of our own. In doing so, we should focus a lot more on preventing, as well as treating diseases, injuries, and illness. LincolnHealth is currently engaged in five-year strategic planning; the Wellness Foundation wants to ensure that we provide detailed input to that process. Let’s agree on what services we need most on our peninsula and how we feel they should be delivered. And, if LincolnHealth doesn’t provide those services locally and cost-effectively, the foundation will identify and support organizations that can provide them.”

This customer design session will be patient-led. Healthcare providers are welcome, but will be playing a supporting role. All ages are welcome!

For more information, contact Patty Seybold, 207-633-4368, pseybold@customers.com.