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A Publication Featuring The Information Services Technology of Maine State Government
By Janey Barton
Walter Lowell is the Director of Information Services at DMHMRSAS (Department of Mental Health Mental Retardation Substance Abuse Services). Walter is actually "Doctor Lowell", since he earned his Doctor of Education at Columbia University in science. For a time, he was a professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada, but left there to do post-doctoral work at Boston University Medical School.
In 1982, Walter applied for a research position at AMHI (Augusta Mental Health Institute), in order to gain experience in the real-world application of his research work at that time. He eventually became AMHI’s Director of Quality Assurance, then Director of Information Systems, and served as Supervisor of AMHI in an acting capacity. For those who have worked in technology for a while, do you remember a Decwriter IV? Walter does.
Walter, as Director of IS at DMHMRSAS, heads a staff of about 20 people. They are just initiating a major project that is an enterprise-wide system for the department. Its name is SIDI, which stands for System Infrastructure Development Initiative, and a contract has been awarded to CNSI (Client Network Services, Inc.) to begin the initial work. The new project will create a system that has eight foundation systems:
The system will be web-enabled, connect all three regional offices, as well as AMHI and BMHI (Bangor Mental Health Institute). Interfaces will be incorporated for the Bureau of Medical Services (BMS), as well as the Departments of Labor, Corrections, and Education. Some programs affected will involve financial medical systems, including Medicaid. This will also include moving all systems to Oracle and web-based applications. It will mean more availability of geospatial displays of Department of Mental Health data.
One other area of responsibility, given by PL790, was children’s initiative legislation, giving Mental Health the lead for coordination of children’s data systems throughout Maine state government.
Walter, as Dr. Lowell the researcher, has published several papers on neural networks in publications like the American Journal of Medical Quality and the Journal of Neural Computing. This involves software that can learn patterns and, for instance, can help measure the length of institutional stays and the quality of care received. Dr. Lowell said that doing research and publishing "satisfies my intellectual curiosity."
Walter grew up in Westbrook, and he and his wife, Linda, a reading specialist at the Gilbert School, are the parents of three: Christine, a freshman at the University of Maine at Orono; Jim, a senior in high school; and Allison, who is in 5th grade. Walter’s avocations include camping and fishing with the family at Rangeley, watching his son play football, working in flower and vegetable gardens, and reading. Favorite author: the Maine author, Kenneth Roberts.