By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Mainers could become healthier within five years if the great divide between people’s behavior and medical care was ended, said several people attending a health-care forum Monday at Lewiston-Auburn College.

People need more than care. They need help with nutrition. They need help on how to exercise. Direct ties about how over-drinking and risky driving can affect health need to be made clear.

The places to deliver that education are workplaces and schools, said those attending a “health care listening tour” hosted by Trish Riley of the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance, architect of Dirigo Health.

The event was intended to hear from citizens on their health reform priorities, but few ordinary citizens attended. Most who filled the room represented health-care organizations. The input they offered will help build the new state health plan that will set health-reform priorities for the state, Riley said.

Just as Maine in the ’70s addressed infant mortality and improved infant health, the goal of the new health plan is to make Mainers healthier, while harnessing health costs and improving access and quality, Riley said.

Nutrition, fitness info

After hearing comments for an hour on what Maine should do, Riley observed that two themes were substance abuse and obesity. If one were to be aggressively tackled, she asked, which should it be? A majority show of hands chose obesity.

Reducing the problem of weight and obesity would affect rates of other diseases, said as diabetes, said Mary Anne Ponti, a nurse at St. Mary’s Regional Hospital.

“But how do you do it in a way that isn’t blamey?” Riley asked, saying no one wanted to make obese and overweight people feel bad.

Betty Sirois, a nurse who treats diabetes in Norway, said she works with children and families. She teaches nutrition and fitness first and second, weight loss third. As a patient moves more and eats healthier food, weight loss happens, Sirois said.

Mary Mayhew of the Maine Hospital Association said that whatever priorities are picked, it’s important that goals be targeted, and that consumers, providers and educators are all behind those goals.

“Your office has created momentum,” Mayhew said. With obesity, there may be some “low-hanging fruit,” Mayhew said, challenging someone to look at food served in school cafeterias.

Dennise Whitley of the American Health Association in Maine said citizens should urge Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to pass federal legislation that would make school food healthier.

Some employers help

Pamela Edgecomb of Central Maine Condition Clinic Inc. of Auburn said the workplace is a good place to deliver health information. Some employers offer lower-cost premiums to workers who exercise and don’t smoke. Over time, they’ll see lower-rising health costs, she predicted. Edgecomb added that employers can be a valuable resource to deliver health education that could be passed on to family members.

Roger Park, a Lewiston health-care provider who serves on the Governor’s Council for Physical Fitness, said one of the best ways to improve health is to walk. But walking isn’t always possible.

“Can our communities address that by cleaning sidewalks? By preparing places for walking? By looking at laws that protect children who want to walk and ride bikes to schools?”

Park added that too many Mainers have high-risk lifestyles. “They like motorbikes. They like snowmobiles. But they don’t think about the consequences. I’m not saying we all have to become parents,” but students need to be shown the connection, Park said.

After similar forums are held in other cities, a proposed state health plan will be aired in public hearings on Nov. 3 and 4, Riley said.

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