BY LINDSAY TICE

Sun Journal

The Maine Health Access Foundation has awarded $670,000 in grants to 14 small Maine hospitals to improve medication safety.

Rumford Hospital and Bridgton Hospital received $50,000 each. Rumford will use the money, in part, to teach its medical personnel about children's medications. Bridgton will use its money to train medical personnel, educate patients and set up processes to keep better track of patient medications.

"The last thing I want people to think is we're having an a-ha (moment) and we think we ought to do this. We're doing a lot of it now," said Bobbi Cribby, Bridgton's director of clinical practice. "We think it can be better."

The other 12 hospitals are: Houlton Regional Hospital, Millinocket Regional Hospital, C.A. Dean Memorial Hospital in Greenville, Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln, Calais Regional Hospital, Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield, Down East Community Hospital in Machias, Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, St. Andrews Hospital in Boothbay Harbor and Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan.

Medication safety overdoses, drug interactions and misuse is an issue nationally, particularly as aging baby boomers require a greater number of drugs to deal with everything from heart disease to arthritis. In Maine, medication safety has been a hot topic with doctors and hospitals throughout the state.

In September, the Maine Health Management Coalition, a group of doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and others, released a survey that looked at whether 41 Maine hospitals double-checked prescriptions, whether they verified medications with patients and how they handled other drug issues. With a possible 100 points, about half the hospitals scored 60 or higher.

Fourteen hospitals applied for the grants and all 14 received money. Most got $50,000.