The Department of Health and Human Services’ recent restructuring of the Healthy Maine Partnerships is nothing short of mind boggling.

It is inconceivable to me that Healthy Androscoggin was not made the lead agency in the region. Healthy Androscoggin has been an exceptionally successful agency — it has leveraged funds for the community through grants, launched a variety of key public health initiatives, and created local jobs.

Students from local institutions of higher education, including University of Southern Maine L-A, Central Maine Community College and Bates College, have the opportunity to intern and/or volunteer at Healthy Androscoggin. These collaborations are fiscally prudent.

For example, students and faculty from local institutions have provided hundreds of hours of work to the agency during the past decade at no cost. It is very unlikely that students at these institutions are going to travel to Rumford to provide their services.

We have spent a decade building those relationships. It is exceptionally disheartening to have this important groundwork go unrecognized in the restructuring.

The threat to public health funding is a critical concern. With cuts to funding, Healthy Androscoggin was finding ways to provide evidence-based interventions at lower cost through fiscal prudence and by leveraging their relationships with local educational institutions.

The restructuring decision is poorly conceived and will not serve the region. It is also likely to cost more in the long run.

Politics should not drive health care or public health decisions, yet it seems that is precisely what happened at DHHS.

Kathy Graff Low, Auburn