Maine: AIDS Network Joins Penobscot Health Care

A 23-year-old Maine AIDS service organization is merging with a large primary care practice to help maintain services to its 70 clients in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.

"The economy has made it very hard for nonprofits to fundraise and to maintain services," said Eastern Maine AIDS Network (EMAN) Program Director Sean Weber.

EMAN hopes its affiliation with Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC), a 50,000-patient primary care practice founded in 1987, will allow it to expand services and pursue grants not available to the network now. EMAN began offering crisis management in 1991 and a syringe exchange program in 2002. The current year budget is $417,000.

"By coming under the umbrella of PCHC, we're able to offer our clients more services such as dentistry and hearing evaluations," Weber said.

EMAN will remain at its Bangor location and retain its current staff after the merger, Weber said.

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