Mount Desert Island Hospital Organization Increases Minimum Wage

 Mount Desert Island Hospital today announced it will increase its minimum wage to $15 per hour effective immediately. In addition to the minimum wage increase, the majority of hourly (non-exempt) employees at MDI Hospital and Birch Bay Retirement will receive an increase to their current compensation.

“We are very fortunate to have an incredible team that puts our patients first each and every day,” said Chrissi Maguire, MDI Hospital President/CEO. “Our dedicated employees are our greatest asset, and this wage increase acknowledges their vital contributions and outstanding commitment to the health and safety of our community.”

More than 300 employees will benefit from the wage increase—nearly 60 percent of all staff. This group includes certified medical and nursing assistants, environmental and nutrition services employees, reception and registration staff and many other frontline employees. The wage increase represents an investment of more than $1 million in employee compensation annually.

With 65 open positions currently available between MDI Hospital and Birch Bay Retirement Village, MDI Hospital’s increase in its wage scales will also help boost employee retention and recruitment said Sara O’Connell, Director of Human Resources at MDI Hospital.

As part of the MDI Hospital team, employees have access to a comprehensive benefits package including health and dental benefits, continuing education opportunities and tuition reimbursement, a robust employee wellness program and an employer retirement contribution match of up to 4 percent of annual earnings.

MDI Hospital has maintained a solid financial foundation throughout the pandemic, allowing for resiliency bonuses to be paid to all staff in December of 2020. The hospital has also offered employees flexible scheduling options, childcare services, mindful change management workshops and additional resiliency resources.

“Throughout the pandemic, we have been striving to support our invaluable employees and help them remain resilient in the most challenging of circumstances,” said Maguire. “This increase to our wage scale reaffirms this commitment.”

About Mount Desert Island Hospital
Mount Desert Island Hospital serves a close-knit island and surrounding communities through a 25-bed critical access facility in Bar Harbor and a network of area health centers—all designed to provide comprehensive healthcare for residents and visitors. Since it was established in 1897, the nonprofit hospital has grown into a premier rural healthcare organization with a retirement community and six primary care health centers, as well as a full-service behavioral health center and a dental clinic. The hospital’s Emergency Department, a critical link in Downeast Maine's trauma delivery system, serves the Mount Desert Island community 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. MDI Hospital received a five-star rating, the highest awarded, from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2020. In addition, the organization’s inpatient, outpatient, emergency, and surgical care services have been consistently recognized by Avatar International, the Leapfrog Group, the National Rural Health Association, Harvard Pilgrim and Healthgrades.

ArtWaves October Exhibit at the Southwest Harbor Public Library

 

ArtWaves artist members will have work on exhibit at the Southwest Harbor Public Library during the month of October. This dynamic art exhibit will showcase a wide variety of works including landscape and portrait oil paintings, some painted on site, “en plein air”, and oil paintings of Peru by Brian Caine. Gloria Avner’s batik work and the paintings of Art Paine known for his marine paintings will be accompanied by April Karan’s intricate crosses. Other artists showing in October include Liz Cutler, Elizabeth Keenan and Sally Littlefield and more. ArtWaves is a nonprofit on MDI that seeks to make art accessible to the Mount Desert Island and surrounding communities.

The library is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Fridays, and 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays. For more information about the exhibit, call the Library, 244-7065 or visit www.swhplibrary.org. Visit https://www.artwavesmdi.org/ for more about the ArtWaves.

Healthy Acadia Announces Third Year of Mini-Grant Opportunities for Community Partners to Expand Youth Substance Use Prevention Initiatives

Healthy Acadia is thrilled to announce the launch of its third year of mini-grant funding opportunities available to community partners working with youth. The Downeast Maine Partnerships for Success (PFS) initiative, coordinated by Healthy Acadia, is a collaborative effort to prevent youth substance use across Washington and Hancock counties, with a focus on alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use prevention. Mini-grants awarded will support community-driven, collective efforts to prevent substance use and promote the health and well-being of youth aged 9 to 20 years throughout the region. 

 

Healthy Acadia and Downeast Maine Partnerships for Success will provide mini-grant sub-awards of $1,000 to $10,000 to community groups, such as schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations, that seek to provide new opportunities that support positive social development, resilience, peer-based mental health support, and/or structured, pro-social activities to support substance use prevention for youth. 

 

“I am so excited to see more projects in Hancock and Washington counties with the opportunities this funding creates to provide support and create positive social interactions and activities for youth,” said Sara McConnell, PFS Initiative Coordinator. “In the last two years, we awarded 28 amazing projects that reached youth and communities throughout the region during a time when support and opportunities were so needed: new after-school programs, virtual and in-person summer camps, outdoor recreation opportunities with corresponding equipment, and so much more.” 

 

Healthy Acadia will host informational sessions via Zoom to provide organizations interested in applying with opportunities to ask questions about proposed project ideas, previous year's projects, the evaluation process, and more. Sessions are scheduled for September 21, 2021, at 10 a.m., and September 29, 2021, at 3 p.m. Contact McConnell at Sara@HealthyAcadia.org for login information. 

 

For more information and to view the request for proposals, visit Healthy Acadia’s website: www.healthyacadia.org, or contact Sara McConnell, Project Coordinator, at 207-255-3741 or sara@healthyacadia.org. Applications are due by Wednesday, October 13, 2021.  

 

Healthy Acadia is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that engages in a broad range of initiatives to build healthier communities and make it easier for people to lead healthy lives across Washington and Hancock counties, Maine. Learn more at www.healthyacadia.org. 

 

This project is supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) under Partnerships for Success Grant # 1H79SP081695. Learn more by visiting www.samhsa.gov or by calling 877-SAMHSA-7.