The Aroostook Medical Center Officially Becomes Northern Light Health

Today marks a landmark for what was formally known as The Aroostook Medical Center (TAMC) as today they officially become Northern Light Health.

President of Northern Light Health in Presque Isle, Gregory LaFrancois spoke to a number of people today in a conference room at the facility, about why the hospital has changed its name effective Oct. 1.

"Today is not about a name change, but the name change marks the fact that we have successfully achieved center of mass. We've got a system now that functions like a system that allows us to leverage care. That's why we're changing the name, because it fits who we currently are."

Northern Light Health, formerly known as The Aroostook Medical Center (TAMC) has been a member of the Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems and the new name change reflects a key step in the system's evolution from individual locations with a regional focus to an integrated health delivery organization with coordinated statewide offerings.

The shift is one of the changes that the organization has made in order to build a better health delivery system for Maine people.

LaFrancois went on to say that the system consists of 9 hospitals, 12,000 employees, 1400 providers, 8 nursing homes, home health care, and emergency transport services that span the entire state of Maine.

Instead of having individual facilities with different names, LaFrancois stated that "today we become one as a system."

The hospital should no longer be seen as a small, rural hospital in a rural area. We are a powerful force for health in Aroostook County, LaFrancois said.

What's Not Going To Change

According to LaFrancois, Northern Light Health will continue to be what they've always been. Where a patient meets a provider and the point of care is not going to change.

Care will continue to be delivered by incredibly passionate, hard-working and well-trained staff for the people they serve.

What Is Going To Change

• They now have the ability to bring best practices from across the state of Maine to Aroostook County.
• The staff that provides service to people in Aroostook County will now have access to more support and resources than ever before.
• Meaningful career progression, within their system, to those who are employed with Northern Light Health.
• Upgrades to equipment, professional training opportunities for staff, facility maintenance options, and state-of-the-art scanners and other equipment is available in order to give their patients the best healthcare possible.
• Better supply buying power to help to bring healthcare costs down.

Before deciding on the name Northern Light Health, the system conducted comprehensive consumer research and considered more than 100 different names.

Northern Light Health worked closely with Monigle, a highly regarded brand experience agency, to develop the new name, brand platform, and the strategy to convey a consistent patient experience no matter where in the system a person seeks care.

For more on Northern Light Health, please visit northernlighthealth.org.