Cary Medical Center
- Project Title: Better Breathing, Better Living
- Grant Period: 9/1/2016 – 8/31/2019
- Program Representative Interviewed: Leslie KR Anderson, PT, MSB, Chief Operating Officer, Cary Medical Center
- Location: Aroostook County, Maine
- Program Overview: Cary Medical Center, as part of the Maine Rural Health Collaborative (MRHC), implemented the Better Breathing, Better Living program to ensure the appropriate diagnosis of COPD among their patients and to improve overall disease management. Pulmonary function testing, tobacco cessation services, and medication reconciliation ensure early and accurate COPD diagnoses. Once patients are on the right path, self-management education engages patients and caregivers in the disease management process, and follow-up visits help keep patients on track. The program's ultimate goals are to reduce hospital readmissions, emergency department visits, and cigarette smoking. Many of the care coordination services are delivered through telehealth, such as remote inhaler education.