-- Robin reported that March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month, and we have been awarded a $2,500 minigrant to promote colon cancer screening. Activities include presentations to Dover-Foxcroft and Dexter Kiwanis Clubs, a community awareness event at C.A. Dean, a display in the Mayo lobby, and a booth at the Chamber of Commerce Expo in Guilford.

-- Resources were shared for the "Watch Your Mouth" oral health campaign.

-- Robin reported PPHC has been awarded a $5,000 clinical outreach grant to increase awareness around the Tobacco Help Line, medication voucher program, referral program and "Every Mother's Wish" campaign.

-- Most of the meeting was spent discussing the Healthy Maine Partnership RFP. Robin noted PPHC has already attended three meetings with representatives from the Bangor, Millinocket, Lincoln, Old Town and Newport areas to discuss a regional approach for Penobscot and Piscataquis County. Agreement has been reached on our two-county region being served by four Comprehensive Community Health Coalitions (CCHCs): Bangor region, Northern Penobscot, Piscataquis and Sebasticook Valley (Newport-Pittsfield). The Piscataquis CCHC would include all of Piscataquis County as well as Penobscot towns in the Dexter (SAD 46) and Corinth (SAD 64) regions. The Piscataquis CCHC would thus have a population of 31,000, which would meet the desired threshold.

As for funding, Robin noted the Penobscot-Piscataquis region would receive $1.2 million annually over the RFP's three-year cycle, with that amount to be shared by the four CCHCs. There would be additional funding for schools, and the RFP does intend to continue funding all existing, full-time school health coordinator positions that meet grant criteria. Robin explained the four levels of school funding laid out in the RFP.