The Somerset and Kennebec Counties Community Partnership (SKCCP) is a coalition of community-based organizations, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations serving Somerset and Kennebec counties in Maine. The coalition recognized that, while services to address common health-related social needs (HRSNs) existed in their communities, barriers in access, awareness, and utilization were leaving many residents unsupported.
Funded by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services as a part of the Rural Community Health Initiative Partnership demonstration project, the SKCCP aimed to develop a granular, more human-centered view of how at-risk community members navigated health and social systems in order to develop a framework for a well-integrated social and community support system.
LIFT Healthcare conducted a Lived Experiences study, which consisted of 30 in-depth qualitative interviews (23 community members and 7 providers) across a diverse set of populations, including individuals living with chronic illness or disability, the IDD community, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, the LGBTQ+ community, veterans, single parents, housing- and food-insecure individuals, and new Mainers.
Interviews were facilitated by ethnographers via Zoom and phone, capturing deeply personal narratives around barriers, facilitators, and coping strategies. We also engaged providers to contextualize systemic realities and compare institutional perspectives against lived experiences.
This project provided the SKCCP with a granular, human-centered view of their community—moving beyond statistics into lived realities. The insights and tools delivered by LIFT allowed stakeholders to integrate findings into community engagement strategies and outreach programs; better align services with self-identified needs of residents, rather than provider assumptions; and strengthen trust by fostering connection, cultivating intimacy, and reflecting community values in service delivery. This engagement also built a necessary foundation for ongoing funding and advocacy efforts, using ethnographic insights and visual deliverables to demonstrate real-world community needs.
