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Carry Buterbaugh, Ph.D., researcher at the UNE’s Center for Community and Public Health, presented preliminary findings of Maine’s Project LAUNCH (Linking Action for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health) - Special Studies at the annual LAUNCH meeting in Washington D.C. in late April.

Maine is one of five sites funded to conduct Special Studies to measure the local impact of Project LAUNCH, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Asministration (DHHS SAMHSA). Project LAUNCH is a 5-year project housed at the Community Caring Collaborative (CCC) in Washington County, Maine, and is designed to improve the health of at-risk infants, children and families.

Buterbaugh’s presentation highlighted the project’s impact on maternal and child health, healthcare utilization and costs, and the comparison of integrated models of care for expecting mothers on drug replacement therapy.

Other presenters included: Dr. David Willis, Director of the Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Services, Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) who emphasized the importance of maternal and early childhood services on early brain and child development; and, Marjorie Withers (Local Project LAUNCH director, Maine) who highlighted the Bridging program , a locally developed program to better serve at-risk pregnant mothers and infants.  The innovative Bridging model, and potentially a best-practices model, emphasized Maine’s leadership in early childhood intervention programs and its commitment to strengthen child development through collaborations.

UNE’s Ruthanne Spence, Ph.D. (lead-evaluator), and Buterbaugh have been conducting on-going evaluation research for Project LAUNCH in Washington County for nearly 5 years.