At a time when many rural health care providers in Maine are cutting services, Madawaska Community Health Center will expand later this year at a new location.
Operated by Fish River Rural Health, the clinic has offered medical, dental and behavioral and mental health services in Madawaska on a part-time basis since 2017. Executive Director Heather Pelletier said it serves patients who had difficulties making appointments at other offices in Eagle Lake or Fort Kent.
"We had a lot of patients struggling to reach their appointments in our other locations that I've just described, because we could see the people that were not able to attend their appointments, we could see the zip codes they were coming from, and saw that there would be a need to bring services closer to the people," she said.
The expansion will triple the size of the health center when it is completed this fall.
"There are so many closures going on in the local area, but if we don't address it, the people will go without health care," she said. "So we do see this as a need. This is not growing to be bigger. This is growing to address the need."
Pelletier said she has already hired 15 new staffers and has plans to hire another 15 once the center moves into the new space.
