Andwell Health Partners Merges with Sandcastle Clinical and Educational Services
Merger provides greater capacity for impact across the community.
For many years, Sandcastle Clinical and Educational Services (Sandcastle) and Andwell Health Partners (Andwell) (formerly Androscoggin Home Healthcare & Hospice) have worked to improve the health and well-being of the communities they serve. The Boards of Directors at Sandcastle and Andwell believe the time is right to merge and create a stronger, unified and more intentional approach to collaboration. The merger, effective July 1, 2024, will enhance the combined organization’s ability to offer a unique and integrated array of family-centered services for Maine children under the Andwell Health Partners family of brands: Andwell Therapy and Early Learning Services, as well as Andwell Audiology, formerly L/A Hearing Center.
For over 28 years, Sandcastle has offered a full array of children’s clinical services and early childhood educational programming. Andwell has served children and families for nearly 60 years, and today maintains an average daily census of 650 pediatric patients, some of whom are shared with the Sandcastle team. Both organizations use family-centered treatment models delivered by a multidisciplinary team of health care and behavioral health professionals to care manage children for health, wellness and skill development for a promising future.
Each organization views the other as having many strengths, including their respective clinical and leadership teams; solid reputations as the authority in their respective arenas; and a mission-based legacy focused on service to the community. According to Stephanie Gelinas, Chief Executive Officer at Sandcastle, “This merger not only presents greater capacity for impact, but it also allows our organizations to build upon our strengths, our common set of values, and respond more strategically to both the pediatric healthcare and early childhood educational needs of our community.”
Andwell Health Partners has retained the consulting firm SimiTree to help support the process of integration, which began in early May. According to Ken Albert, Andwell’s President, “Our cultures are blending beautifully, and I have every confidence that we will be stronger together. The team at Sandcastle is second to none, and we are very excited to welcome them to the Andwell family as we continue our work of serving Maine people.”
Gelinas and Albert both want the community to know that “we will continue to serve our communities in the exemplary manner that has become the cornerstone of our respective reputations. The only thing changing for students, patients and families served by Sandcastle will be the sign on the door.” Additionally, Andwell Medical Partners, a division of Andwell Health Partners, will launch Andwell Audiology in the coming months.
