FARMINGTON – Access to healthcare, the opioid crisis and telemedicine were the focus of discussions Wednesday afternoon as professionals from across the state gathered to meet with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Congressman Bruce Poliquin.
The secretary arranged the visit to Farmington at the request of Poliquin, who has been paying attention to Franklin County’s efforts to develop the local economy in a variety of ways, including the initiative to bring high speed broadband internet to the area.
Broadband figured prominently in Wednesday’s discussion, which brought more than 20 healthcare professionals, law enforcement officials and community resource leaders to the table to share firsthand what they are seeing in rural Maine.
“I tell people I run the largest detox facility in the state: the jail. But eventually those individuals will be released and we need to be able to extend their resources,” Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton said.
Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols echoed the need – reporting that opioid addiction is one of the biggest issues the jail deals with on a day to day basis.
Director of Western Maine Education Center Tania Dawson shared that western Maine has the highest rate in the state of those using prescription drugs without a prescription.
“That needs to be addressed,” she told Perdue.
From Franklin to Penobscot to Aroostook County, the stories ran a similar thread: addiction is widespread and the recovery resources are thin. One resource highlighted at Wednesday’s round table was the possibility of using technology to provide healthcare to rural areas. Telemedicine, providing two-way communication between the patients and healthcare providers, could be a driving solution to the problem, according to many of the representatives at the table.
“Human connection is the bridge to wellness and recovery,” Director of Business Development at Acadia Hospital Rick Redmond said.
He went on to note the need in rural Penobscot County, not only for drug addiction support but for geriatric depression or chronic disease that prohibits someone from leaving their home.
“When [telemedicine] is working well, great things can happen. But a poor connection is like talking with someone who keeps leaving the room, or is mumbling. Getting reliable broadband into people’s homes is where this needs to go,” Redmond said.
In Franklin County, that need is the subject of the grassroots Broadband Initiative project. The project was introduced by Greater Franklin Development Council Executive Director Charlie Woodworth.
“We have a county-wide solution. Not one town or a couple towns, but 22 towns and 36 communities including the unorganized territories,” Woodworth said, noting that access to the USDA low interest loans and grants are crucial to getting the project going.
The USDA provides a multitude of funding resources when it comes to broadband access initiatives and drug addiction support. Poliquin pointed out that Maine is an extremely physical state when it comes to the workforce- from logging, to lobstering, to farming- the risk of injury, and therefore the risk of pain killer addiction, is high.
“The USDA could make a difference in rural Maine. It has a really important role in this state and there is limitless opportunity for rural Maine to be supported by it,” Andy Hamilton, Eaton Peabody Attorneys at Law said.
The discussion ended with Perdue offering support from his office, saying that they would try to do what had been asked of them.
“We’ve heard you say this needs to be addressed from the bottom up, and we want to be that catalyst. We want to be a partner with these local communities who have their acts together,” he said.
Really!? Broadband is they key to ending the opiod abuse epidemic in western Maine? Get real
Let the druggies drug themselves to death. Less people living off the taxpayers. Also, why no mention of Bussie York and the plight of Sandy River Farms and other small farms in general? I see from the Sun Journal that Bussie was present and Secretary Purdue toured the farm.
It’s nice to see Poliquin in attendance. The opioid crisis and rural broadband are the 2 biggest issues plauging rural Maine.
It’s too bad that the Franklin county commissioners won’t join the lawsuit against big pharma.
“The opposite of addiction is connection”
Isn’t connection an addiction these days? Maybe we need less internet and more real world. Get off the devices and back outside. Clearly the answer to the drug problem is pancakes. Let’s give a bunch of tax dollars to the waffle House, makes the same sense to me.
We see it everyday up this way. It’s been reported time after time and it doesn’t seem like much is being done about it lately. When people have to keep putting up tarps and fences so you can’t see over there and they supposedly run a used tire business, what are they trying to hide? The used tires? I don’t think so. Don’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out when vehicles are in and out in least than 2 minutes.
Big pharma must pay for over prescribing and being irresponsible. They made big money looking the other way. There will be a cost to our community helping children of addicts. You need a revenue stream to cover the special services children need or we will be complaining about school cost increases at school budget time.
Part of the drug problem in Franklin county is… it’s boring and nothing to do. The only activities to do in the area are eat drink or do drugs.
@New Sharonite
I have lived in this town for 10 years now, and I must say that it is not the fact of ‘nothing to do’, but rather that people here are incredibly wary of new people. Especially if they are not either just like the natives, or have past connections or new business deals for them. I still am hoping to be corrected, myself, but it will take a lot longer to see areas like these catch up to more progressive locations elsewhere.