MeCARE Tips and Shortcuts

Please send me tips of your own by calling 624-5350 or by e-mail Note that this page will be constantly updated.

Shiva won't let me in!

If you can't seem to get in to Shiva (dialing in) it may be that there is a problem with the local number you are dialing in to, or there may be a problem with the state-wide toll-free. If so, when you select MeCare Dial-up just type in one of the numbers below (or the toll-free if it's the local one that's broke) where the current number is.
Augusta ...... 621-1191 Biddeford ... 286-2575 Houlton ...... 532-5098 Portland ..... 761-2054 Topsham .... 729-9241	Bangor .......... 561-4471 Caribou .......... 493-4041 Lewiston ........ 795-4596 Skowhegan .... 474-4961 Waterville ....... 877-8583
All other areas 1-888-277-6100 Note: You should always use a local number whenever possible. The toll-free should be used only if there are no local numbers available to you.

Keyboard Tips & Shortcuts

The TAB key moves from one field to the next; SHIFT TAB does the same in reverse order
ALT TAB (Holding down the "ALT" key with one finger and tapping the TAB key one or more times with another) navigates from the currently active window to any other "hidden" windows.
If you tab to a "multi-select" button (i.e. the Town or Provider button, and it has "focus" (there are little dots surrounding the work Town, etc), pressing the Space-bar is the same as clicking on it with the arrow.
If you are in a "dialogue box" (the system is asking you to respond by pressing a button, i.e. when you are given a choice of pressing an OK button or a Cancel button), and one of the buttons has a darker border around it (i.e. the OK button - the button with the darker border is referred to as the "Default" button) pressing the Enter key is the same as clicking on it with your mouse.
If you are in a drop-down item, typing the first letter or number of an item selects that option within the drop-down. If there are more than one item with the same first letter, repeating the letter moves the selection to each successive item starting with the same letter. (i.e. in the Status field in the Assessment Search screen, typing "A" will successively select Assigned, Assessed and Accepted, etc.)
ALT F4 (Holding down the ALT key and pressing the F4 (function four) key, not the letters F and 4) will close the currently open window.
Ctrl C (holding down the Control key and tapping the letter C) will copy anything that is currently highlighted.
Ctrl X cuts whatever is currently highlighted.
Ctrl V will "paste" the last thing that was copied or cut to wherever the cursor (blinking I bar) is.
Note: These actions work the same in any Windows application, and between Windows application. i.e. if you copy information from MeCare using Ctrl C, you can paste what you have copied into a Word process (Wordpad, etc)
Ctrl S saves anthing that you have typed since you last saved. It is a good idea to save fairly frequently, to ensure that if you have some kind of MeCare error, you will lose the least amount of information. Ctrl S is the same as clicking on Save from a drop-down menu.

If you want to search using "wild cards", use the % symbol as your wild card. (i.e. if you search for Perkins in the last name field and Da% in the first name field, you'll get all the Perkins starting with Da (Dan, Darrin, David, etc)

If you press on the Apply button on the "Connect to Server" screen, it will activate any selections you have made (i.e. to accept or reject an assessment) but leave the window open. Selecting OK will activate any selections you have made, but will also close out the window.

MeCare does not have to be closed in order to dial-in. Activate your dial-in software from your Start button; connect to server, and then View connect to server screen.

After you have completed all the activities you need to do connected to the server, you can click on the "ShivaRemote..." button to the right of the Start button at the bottom of the screen, and then select Disconnect. You can then continue using the MeCare application. NOTE: Make sure you have closed out of the Connect to Server screen before you disconnect. It is not a good idea to disconnect the telephone line until you have pressed the Disconnect button in the ShivaRemote box.

Double clicking on the "header" at the top of a "spread" (for example, the grey box which says "Name" above the clients name in the Assessment List or the Connect to Server spread) will sort all the people based on the values in that column - i.e. it will sort by name if you double click on the Name header, by status if you double click on the Status header, etc. If you double click again on the same header, is will reverse sort (i.e. in Z - A order, etc)