Maine Health Department Report Focuses on ‘Risk’ Groups, Recommends Solutions

The Maine Bureau of Health on Dec. 18 released a new two-volume report titled, "Healthy Maine 2010," which identifies populations and communities that state officials should focus on in meeting their goal of increasing access to quality care and reducing occurrence of chronic disease, the Portland Press Herald reports. The report also lists "key problems," such as access to health care, chronic disease, substance abuse, family planning and mental health, and offers suggestions on how to make improvements in those areas. For example, the report says that focusing on "populations with the highest rates" of tobacco use will help lower the state's smoking rates. The report, funded by the state's portion of the national tobacco settlement, says efforts should be focused on minorities, the poor, the elderly and people with disabilities. The report lists eight groups that "face health challenges" and classifies them according to socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, age, gender, veteran status, sexual orientation, other sexual minorities and geographic location. The report "draws heavily" from national statistics, census figures and interviews with state minority health experts. According to Carl Toney, project director at the Center for Transcultural Health at the University of New England, the report is "a major step" because Maine has been "somewhat behind the curve" in compiling health information on minority groups. Dr. Dora Anne Mills said that the report not only focuses on the "people we want to give resources to" but also is "a way to more effectively use our resources." She added that "[i]mproving the health of these sub-groups helps the public at large," the Press Herald reports (Huang, Portland Press Herald, 12/19).