In this report on one of the first continuing care departments in the country, Dr. Harold Willard describes how he set up and directed a program in Thayer Hospital, Waterville, Maine, to provide the personnel and services necessary for improved care of patients with chronic illnesses. The community hospital, he maintains, must be the center for developing methods for health maintenance and care of the chronically ill. Two chapters by Dr. Stanislav Kasl provide a theoretical background for continuing care and discuss the importance of information from the behavioral sciences in the development and operation of continuing care programs.