MaineHealth Institute for Research Community

 Thanks to Cole Ferm for this contribution! Sent on behalf of Laura Robbins Health and Wellbeing Manager for MaineHealth MMC   Good afternoon all,    I wanted to give you all a heads up on April’s WOW! feature -  Get Healthy in the Garden!  Please share this information far and wide!   Spring is here and it’s time to gear up for garden season! Did you know that planting and tending a garden is a great way to boost morale, relieve anxiety and reduce cortisol levels (stress hormone)? Between walking, moving bags of soil, weeding and raking, gardening can also provide a nice workout! New to gardening? Not sure where to start? MaineHealth has partnered with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension to provide you with the right tools to get your garden growing.   On  April 26th from 6 – 7 pm , join WOW! in partnership with the  University of Maine Cooperative Extension  horticulture professionals and educators during the  Get Your Garden Growing  panel discussion. Prior to the discussi

  Dear Care Team Members,   As Bill Caron and Rich Petersen announced this morning, I am also pleased to share that all eligible Maine Medical Center and Maine Medical Partners care team members will be receiving a merit increase effective May 2, 2021. Your merit increase will correspond with the performance level you earned through the annual review process as of March 31, 2021.   First and foremost, thank you for everything you have done over the last year to earn this merit increase. I am very pleased that MaineHealth is able to follow through on our commitment to re-evaluate our annual merit program at mid-year. This step is possible because of the hard work and dedication of our entire care team. Thank you for what you do every day for our patients and for one another. I am grateful to work alongside such amazing care providers.    This  Frequently Asked Questions document  provides additional information about the merit increase, including eligibility dates and other details of t

If you missed this week's NIH webinar in the Becoming a Resilient Scientist Series, you can access the recorded version here: Self-Advocacy and Assertiveness for Scientists Some notes from Dr. Sharon Milgram on this topic: Self-advocacy is: The action of representing ourself and our views/interests with  the goal of meeting our needs One of two types of advocacy – for ourself and for others; for  many of us it is easier to advocate for others Assertiveness is the ability to: Express one ’ s feelings and assert one ’ s rights and needs while respecting the feelings , rights and needs of others Use communication that is direct, open and honest to address situations that concern you Set appropriate boundaries that feel right given the context and situation When we set boundaries , we determine: Which actions, statements and behaviors we  will accept from others and what we will not What we will share and not share with others Setting boundaries help us avoid: Over-working ourselves T

 Thanks to Cole Ferm for this contribution! The Pandemic Inequity Nobody’s Talking About How the shift to remote work has widened existing inequities between those who are empowered – and those who are not – to drive the process of change. My colleague and I were recently discussing some of our “lessons learned” about professional collaboration during a pandemic. In our work to support and facilitate inclusive approaches to school change, we have both adapted our work in response to the pandemic. We’ve gone remote. We’ve doubled the number of short meetings to replace the long in-person ones. We’ve taken on more planning when educators have had to divert more energy into remote and hybrid teaching. We’ve learned multiple means of staying in touch with school leaders. And we’ve found new online tools to support collaboration in exciting, perhaps game-changing, ways. What I didn’t really think about until later was what was lost in this shift from in-person to remote collaboration. Befor

 Thanks to Cole Ferm and Liz Jacobs for this contribution! Maine Public Radio is hosting a drive for two new pilot projects to better connect immigrant communities.  One project is working on making the news accessible in multiple languages with a focus on French, Somali, Spanish and more; the second project is to have a reporter dedicated to immigrant issues across the state of Maine.  The goal is to make the news more equitable and more accessible to all of those who live in Maine. This is an essential tool in sharing vital public health information and relevant news to ALL Mainers.  LEARN MORE HERE

 Thanks to Gwen Swan for this contribution! March 31 st Webinar on COVID-19's Impact on Women in STEMM Careers   On Wednesday, March 31, 2021, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) will host a webinar on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the professional and personal lives of women throughout the research workforce. Building on the recently released NASEM consensus study report— The Impact of COVID-19 on the Careers of Women in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (released on March 9, 2021), on which NIH collaborated—the agenda will feature: •    Opening remarks by Dr. Marcia McNutt, President of the National Academy of Sciences •    Overview presentation of the 2020  Promising Practices for Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Opening Doors (2020) report and the  Impact of COVID-19 on the Careers of Women in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine   report •      Panel discussion with

  MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2021 Katie Fullam Harris, Chief Government Affairs Officer  Sarah Calder, Director of Government Affairs  Emily Kovalesky, Policy Associate   This is a regular update on relevant state and federal legislative and regulatory issues. We encourage you to disseminate these updates to your care teams. This is an overview of issues, so do not hesitate to contact one of us directly if there is something missing or with any questions, comments or concerns. Thank you for your time, interest and input. All of the bills the Government Affairs team is following in Augusta and all of MaineHealth testimony MaineHealth can be found on our  Government Affairs website.  State Legislative Update, March 29, 2021   Going It Alone Last week, Democrats took action necessary to pass a biennial budget with only a simple majority. This is rare, and likely the outcome of difficult negotiations during the supplemental budget discussions that were previously reported.   In moving ahead, the De