Central Maine Healthcare

Where You are the Center

Central Maine Healthcare

CMMC Specialty Pharmacy

More Than Just a Pharmacy

The goal of the CMMC Specialty Pharmacy is to help patients understand their chronic and complex diseases and the medication used to treat them.

Specialty pharmacies are not the same as retail pharmacies. Our specialty pharmacists help make sure the medication you take is safe and works for you. We offer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so we are always here to assist you with any questions you may have. We can also help you get assistance to pay for your medications if needed.

Our CMMC Specialty Pharmacy care team will teach you how to take, store and refill your medication. We can also teach you about any side effects you may have and screen for any drug interactions that could occur between your new medication and your usual medications.

We offer fast, free, home shipment or your medication can be picked up at our pharmacy which is located at 10 High Street, suite 104 in Lewiston.

As a patient of the CMMC Specialty Pharmacy, our priority is helping you live better and stay healthy.

The care team in the CMMC Specialty Pharmacy is made up of clinical pharmacists, benefit coordinators, technicians and patient care coordinators trained in your medical condition and specialty medications. We are here for you 24 hours a day 7 days a week to answer your questions about your medication or condition.

Download a copy of the  CMMC Specialty Pharmacy welcome packet.

What to Expect

We will work to assist you in getting your medication paid for through your insurance company and other patient assistance programs that may be available. Our reimbursement specialists are experts at completing financial paperwork and finding ways to help get you your medications.

On time Refills Plus Prescription Monitoring

Our pharmacy team will tell you when it is time for a refill, so you don’t miss any doses, and we will work with your provider to make sure you have the best response possible from your medicine.

Free Medication Delivery Plus Supplies

We can deliver all your medications and supplies needed for your therapy to your home free of charge. Our goal is to make sure you have your medicine in-hand quickly there are no gaps in your therapy. We want getting your medicine to be simple.

Providing Care for Specialized Disease States

Useful Links

  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention – List of Diseases and Conditions
  • National Institutes of Health – Health Information
  • Medline Plus
  • Safe Medication – Drug Information
  • National Council on Patient Information and Education
  • Consumer Med Safety

Financial Assistance Programs

We Offer Support By:

  • Helping you recognize and manage side effects
  • Reminding you when it is time for a refill
  • Teaching you how to take your medication
  • Answering your questions about your medicine
  • Helping with you doctor make sure you have everything you need

Our Services

  • Personalized care
  • Regular follow-up
  • Benefits assistance
  • Free delivery and pick-up
  • 24-hour access to pharmacist to address any urgent patient concerns

To begin using the CMMC Specialty Pharmacy or to transfer your prescriptions, please contact us 207-786-1800.

Specialized Care for Your Baby

While most babies are born exactly when they should be and in the best of health, it’s still reassuring to know that we offer services for those rare times when babies need a little extra help. Central Maine Healthcare has a Special Care Nursery available for those babies and their families. We have the best doctors and nurses on our team who use the latest in technology, skills, and compassion to care for your little one.

Local Care So You Can Get Help … Quickly!

Our Special Care Nursery is located at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, which is a quick drive from Bridgton or Rumford. If you give birth in either of those two hospitals, our transport team will quickly and carefully transport your baby to our caring team in Lewiston in under 30 minutes.

Specialized Care for Your Baby

We specialize in caring for babies born with medical conditions. Our physicians and nurses have special training and are skilled at evaluating and diagnosing infant conditions. As a result, you have the peace of mind, knowing that should any complications arise, we have specialized care waiting just for you and your baby. Our team works closely with infants’ families to create care plans as needed. We’ll help plan what services might be needed, including post-discharge care and home-care services.

Free Accommodations for Extra Support

If your baby requires extended care and traveling to CMMC is an issue, we have a hospitality house, Arbor House, to accommodate you and your family. The 15-bedroom building has a common room, a fully equipped kitchen, dining room, library, laundry facilities, a patio and a garden. Arbor House is free for its visitors and is supported through community donations. For more information: Call CMMC’s Arbor House Scheduler: 795-2691.

Childbirth and Parenting Classes

We want to do more than just support you on your big day – we aim to offer the education you’ll need to feel empowered and ready for birth and parenting!

Central Maine Healthcare offers several classes for parents-to-be and their family members. Whether you’re a first-time parent or a seasoned parent, these classes will help you get ready for your birth and bringing home your baby.

Childbirth Education Classes

We offer childbirth education classes to ensure that our families feel confident and ready to face the wonderful challenges to come. Through discussion, PowerPoint presentations, DVD video clips, plus hands-on-activities, we explore a wide variety of childbirth topics.

Our classes cover pregnancy, labor, labor comfort techniques, cesarean birth, newborns, postpartum issues, and breastfeeding. We practice labor positions (which includes trying out physical therapy balls and a birthing stool), develop different breathing techniques for different parts of labor, and learn the vital importance of relaxation. Our goal is for expectant parents to learn about childbirth in a fun, comfortable, and respectful class environment.

The birth of your child can be a positive, powerful experience, one that you will carry with you always. Through our childbirth education classes, we hope to give you the tools necessary to have the best birth experience possible.

Preparing for Your Big Day

Few experiences in life are as exciting as bringing home a new member of your family. Central Maine Healthcare wants to help you get ready for birth and caring for your newborn in any way that we can.

Ways We Can Help

Our doctors, midwives, and nurses are here to help you create the best plan for your upcoming birth experience. There are several ways we can assist in your preparation, including:

  • Childbirth and Parenting Classes: We offer a selection of classes for families, including childbirth education.
  • Guide to Pregnancy and Birth: We want to make sure you have the best birth experience, so we’ve created guides to help inform you and answer all your questions. From pregnancy to birth, breastfeeding to new mother and baby care, we’ve covered it all in our helpful guides created just for you.
  • Car Seat: Proper installation of your new baby’s car seat is vital to its working properly to keep your newborn safe. We can ease your mind by helping you ensure that it’s installed correctly.

Personalized Birth Plan

At Central Maine Healthcare, our goal is to help you have the best birth experience possible. To help you and your doctor better understand your birth preferences, we encourage parents-to-be to create a birth plan.

Central Maine Healthcare can provide you with a birth plan form through your care provider.

What is a Birth Plan? 

A birth plan is a personal care plan that outlines your preferences for how you’d like your labor, birth, and postpartum care to go. By creating a plan, you can determine exactly what kind of care you would like for you and your baby.

We encourage you and your spouse or birthing partner to enroll in our childbirth education classes, where you can learn about options that will be available to you during the labor experience. This will help you decide what should go into your birth plan and if your expectations are in sync with any requirements your hospital and birthing unit may have.

Creating Your Birth Plan

To create your plan, we suggest starting by making some notes about your labor and birth preferences. You can address experiences such as:

  • The sort of emotional support you would like to have. (For example, who would you like to be with you?)
  • The special comforts you would like to have throughout labor. (For example, would you like to spend time in a labor tub?)
  • The ways that you would like to alternative therapies. (For example, would you be interested in trying out our birthing stools and physical therapy balls?)

Be sure to share your birth plan with your healthcare provider and other maternity support people, as they might have some great ideas for you. Also show it to those who will be with you during your labor and birth experience. You can go over your plan with the team ahead of time, so they know what your preferences are.

Keep in mind that if your birth does not go exactly as you planned, it’s okay! This is where flexibility is the key. Learn about the ways that labor can unfold and plan for how you will handle unexpected situations, then focus on the positive.

A birth plan reflects how you would like to navigate a joyful experience. By writing things down, you also let those assisting you know more about who you are.

Guide to Pregnancy and Birth

We know that new parents often have lots of questions about pregnancy, delivery, and taking care of a new infant. That’s why Central Maine Healthcare created guides to guide you on your new parenting path.

To make it even more interactive and accessible, this series of guides includes online access to educational videos. That way you can read the material and then see the information in action. If you’ve already received access to your guides, you can get to the online materials by signing in here.

Guides for Pregnancy through Parenting

We created the Injoy Birth & Parenting Education series to address many of the common questions that new parents often have. Included in this series are four guides:

  • Understanding Pregnancy
  • Better Breastfeeding
  • Understanding Birth (for those who are enrolled in our Childbirth Education Course)
  • Mother and New Baby Care

www.seewhatyouread.com/

Baby’s Car Seat

When it’s time to head home after the birth, it’s important to make sure your baby is safe and snug in his or her car seat. At Central Maine Healthcare, your safety is one of our top priorities and that includes the ride home from the hospital!

For more information about car seat inspection and installations, call 207-795-2695.

Keep Your Baby Safe

Maine law requires that your baby rides homes in an approved child safety seat. It’s best to take the time to install the car seat ahead of time, so you’ll be familiar with how it works before your baby is born. We recommend that you have the car seat inspected by a certified car seat inspection station, just to make sure it’s as safe as can be.

Central Maine Healthcare helps with safe care seat installations by providing resources. We can connect you with the professionals that can test your installation. 

Why CMH Created the Program

Child safety seats are required under Maine law. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics show that using properly installed car seats reduces the risk of death by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for children between one and four years of age. Child car seats also reduce the need for hospitalization after a car accident. Simply put: car seats save children’s lives.

Virtual Car Seat Assistance

CMMC offers free virtual car seat inspections and installation assistance. Appointments available daily.

Contact:  June Turcotte, Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician 207-795-2695

Need more resources? Child Passenger Safety Seat Program

Community Resources

You can also bring your vehicles and seats to a free monthly fitting clinic held at the United Ambulance station in Lewiston on the third Thursday of every month from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

More information about car seat safety (as well as inspection dates and locations) is available through the Maine Department of Motor Vehicles or the Safe Kids Maine organization.

To help you get started with proper car seat installation procedure, we’ve included some tips below.

  • The safest way to position the harness: the internal harness straps should be at or below your baby’s shoulders when using a car seat in the rear-facing position.
  • Once you have buckled your baby into the internal harness, adjust the harness so the fit is snug. If you can pinch a fold in the harness, it is not tight enough and will need to be re-adjusted. The harness retainer clip is in the proper position when it is at armpit level.
  • It is not recommended to add items to your safety seat that did not come with it. If you feel that your baby needs additional head support, you can use rolled baby blankets or towels and place them on each side. Do not place anything including blankets behind the baby or between the baby and the harness.
  • To obtain optimal harness fit for your baby it’s ideal to avoid bulky clothing. Once the baby is secured in the harness cover the child with a blanket if needed.

Once You Are Home

Once you leave the birthing center to head home with your new bundle of joy, we will continue to offer you the care that you need.  From offering breastfeeding support to local resources, we want you to feel supported by us and those in your community.

Breastfeeding Support and Resources

We have many resources available to help you as you adjust to motherhood. New mothers might like to take a breastfeeding class and consider joining a breastfeeding support group. Our lactation consultants are also available to help you through breastfeeding issues that require expert help.

Infant Care Resources

When it comes to infant care, there are several free home-visiting programs available to all families, with visits from a social worker and a nurse. Both can help with the expected and the unexpected issues that may arise for you and your family.

Postpartum Mood Disorders

While you’re healing and recovering from birth, pay attention to how you feel emotionally. It’s normal to have ups and downs while you’re adjusting to parenting and dealing with lack of sleep. But it’s also not uncommon for depression or anxiety to creep in that needs treatment. You can read more about the issue of postpartum depression and don’t hesitate to reach out to your healthcare provider if you suspect that you might need a little extra help.

Newborn Care

Becoming a new parent can be overwhelming, especially as you’re just getting to know your baby and dealing with a bit of sleep deprivation in the process. We want you to feel confident and successful at parenting your newborn, which is why we offer support for learning about caring for your infant.

Learn Before Birth

Infant care adds another great reason to attend the class. You can also do lots of reading in books and online, watching videos, and talking with your friends and family about what they did to provide the best care to their babies. Just make sure to check with your doctor about anything that you find that’s confusing or concerning.

State and Community Resources

Several state and federally funded agencies offer special programs to families with newborns. The Maine Families Home Visiting Program provides a home visitor who will visit with you and your family from pregnancy until your child is three years old. This program is free and is available to all. The home visitor is there to offer guidance and assistance for a range of issues. Another program provides free Visiting Nurse visits. The nurse can help you by providing healthcare, resources and information about your baby’s wellness.

Postpartum Care

After you’ve given birth, you now begin what we call the postpartum period. This term refers specifically to the six weeks following birth but can last much longer depending on your culture or medical needs. We love caring for postpartum mothers and babies! The Central Maine Healthcare teams will work with you to help you adjust to motherhood and to heal your post-pregnancy body.

Body Changes During Postpartum

After you’ve given birth, you will typically bleed (called lochia) in which your body is eliminating all the excess blood, tissue, and mucus that helped your baby to grow. The best thing for you during this time is to rest and enjoy your baby, allowing your body to do the work to heal up properly. If you have any concerns about your bleeding, please don’t hesitate to call us with questions.

During the 6 weeks after birth, your uterus shrinks back to its normal size and you might feel some light contractions as this is happening. You also might feel more uterus tightening while breastfeeding, which is perfectly normal (and another reason why breastfeeding helps your body heal!).

Breastfeeding

In the first few days after birth, your breasts will change size and shape as they prepare to feed your new baby. Colostrum is the first “milk” that your breasts will produce and is an amazing substance that gives your infant nutrients that he or she needs to get a great start at growing. A couple days later, your breast milk will come in and you will probably notice a difference in how your breasts feel.

If, at any time, you have concerns about breastfeeding, feel free to talk to a nurse or lactation consultant at our hospitals. If you have chosen not to or can’t breastfeed for any reason, we can work with you to take care of your body and help you decide how you would like to feed your baby.

Postpartum Depression

Feeling extra moody, sensitive, or even a little “down” is normal during the first days and weeks of postpartum. But sometimes new moms can develop depression that they just can’t shake on their own.

Postpartum depression is a type of clinical depression that occurs in some new moms shortly after they give birth. Our nurses screen new moms very carefully for this treatable condition but it may not become apparent until you are back at home.

Research indicates that as many as 1 in 6 mothers will experience depressive feelings or the more consistent condition of postpartum depression. The causes are believed to be the significant drop in hormones (primarily estrogen and progesterone) that occur once a woman gives birth. Thyroid levels may also drop significantly, and a low thyroid condition can cause depression. The body may adjust in time and correct itself. If the cause is low thyroid, that can be easily tested and treated with medication.

It is important to note any symptoms you are feeling, and if they persist, tell your healthcare provider. Difficult emotional or life circumstances occurring at the same time can trigger or make postpartum depression worse. Serious, lingering depression is debilitating – but treatable – so don’t hesitate in telling healthcare providers all that you are feeling.

You might not feel like “yourself” for several days after giving birth, due to hormonal changes, fatigue and recovery. However, if after a week or two you notice the following symptoms, set up an appointment with your healthcare provider immediately.

Symptoms of postpartum depression include:

  • Feelings of being overwhelmed
  • Feeling hopeless
  • Feeling sad and crying frequently
  • Restlessness
  • Moodiness
  • Lack of interest in social interaction
  • Low libido
  • No interest in food, or the opposite, overeating
  • Lack of energy and motivation
  • Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
  • Memory problems
  • Inability to focus
  • Inappropriate feelings of guilt or worthlessness
  • Inexplicable and/or vague body pains

Postpartum depression treatment:

The two most common forms of treatment for postpartum depression, which may be combined, are medication and talk therapy. Some medication may not be appropriate for women who are breastfeeding, and your healthcare provider can counsel you about what you can take.

Your choice of therapist may depend on your healthcare provider’s recommendation, your health insurance coverage and your income. Possible therapy resources are: a psychiatrist (a doctor’s referral is usually needed), a psychologist, or a licensed clinical social worker. Ask your doctor or team at Central Maine Healthcare about mental health experts who specialize in postpartum depression.

Please remember that depression is not your fault. It is a condition that affects many new mothers. And most of all, it can have an impact on your new baby. Call your healthcare provider if you have any concerns about your emotional or psychological state. You can get help to feel better!

For additional resources on post-partum depression visit Postpartum Support International.