Island Health Services Director Sharon Daley and Swan’s Island EMT Tammy Tripler.
Mission President John Zavodny.
Maureen Giffin, RN with Sharon Daley.
Island Outreach Director and Chaplain Douglas Cornman.
Mill Pond Health Center Director Donna Wiegle.
SWAN’S ISLAND, ME — Mission President John Zavodny said in an 11:45 a.m. email that the vaccination clinic had so far seen 31 people, and were expecting a daily total of 58 people.
“System’s working well. Folks are showing up early and are very excited and grateful to the Mission and to the Health Center here. They love Tom’s stickers.
A shout out to Maureen Giffin, RN with MDI Hospital, EMT Tammy Tripler with Swan’s Island EMS, Maine CDC, and Director Donna Wiegle with the Mill Pond Health Center on Swan’s Island.
For More Information Contact: Scott K Fish, Communications & Marketing sfish@seacoastmission.org or 207-458-7185
Maine Seacoast Mission Establishes Covid-19 Vaccination Clinics on Maine Islands
NORTHEAST HARBOR, ME – Continuing its century long tradition of bridging the health care gap among the island communities it serves, Maine Seacoast Mission is providing island Covid-19 vaccination clinics starting the week of February 22. Medical and support staff, led by Mission Island Health Services Director Sharon Daley, will travel primarily aboard the Mission’s 74-foot boat, Sunbeam.
“Everything I’m doing seems to be Covid related, and it’s been a real rollercoaster ride for the last week,” said Sharon Daley. “Thanks to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and MDI Hospital, I have an initial 150 vaccines to take out.
“Island Outreach Director Douglas Cornman has been working seven days and nights a week registering people,” Sharon continued. “We have to have an accurate count for each island. And we have to figure out rotation of the islands so we’re not ending up short of vaccines or with vaccines left over.
“I have a couple of great nurses who are going with me. I can’t wait to go on the boat and start doing this,” she said.
The Mount Desert Island based Mission is working in partnership with island residents, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, county officials, Mount Desert Island Hospital, and Pen Bay Medical Center.
The Mission is planning to support vaccination clinics on these islands: Swans, Great Cranberry, Islesford, Matinicus, Frenchboro, Monhegan, and Isle au Haut. Daley, Cornman, and Sunbeam Captain Michael Johnson are scheduling vaccination trips, remembering that the Moderna vaccine requires a second dose approximately 28 days after the first.
The Mission island vaccine clinics are expected to continue for months, and held in various community buildings on the islands.
The Mission boat and crew are well-prepared for this assignment. The first Sunbeam trip after the boat’s recent refit was to conduct flu clinics under Covid restrictions. The Sunbeam is equipped with health facilities including a medical grade refrigerator.
“We have been anticipating this opportunity to serve since the first vaccine was announced last fall. In many ways, the Mission has been preparing for this moment for over a century,” said Mission President John Zavodny.”
Since 1905, the Maine Seacoast Mission has supported communities in some of Maine’s most isolated villages and islands. The Mission connects people to each other, to education, to food, and to wellness.
It’s Thank you Thursday. Today’s shout out of Mission love goes to Elisabeth Marnik, PhD for sharing her experience and knowledge regarding Covid–19 vaccinations.
Elisabeth is Assistant Professor of Molecular Biochemistry at Husson University. She did her PhD in Genetics at the Tufts University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in collaboration with The Jackson Laboratory. Her dissertation research, completed in Dr. Derry Roopenian’s lab, focused on using genetics to understand the normal adaptive immune response, and how it is altered in autoimmune disease. She did her postdoctoral fellowship at The MDI Biological Laboratory with Dr. Dustin Updike.
Elisabeth is passionate about making science accessible for everyone. That motivates her work with undergraduates and her science outreach to the broader community. We so appreciate her recent presentation to Mission staff; her insights will help keep our staff and communities informed about essential public health information.
NORTHEAST HARBOR — Through Zoom screens, socially distanced driveway visits, and the U.S. Postal Service, our Student Pathways Team continues facilitating creative and meaningful connection with students during our ongoing, necessary, pandemic separation.
When we do engage, our Mission Scholars and Journey and College Exploration and Engagement students are impressive and inspiring in their resilience and perseverance. We will continue providing academic and personal mentoring in the months ahead, and look forward, whenever helpful, to connecting with students’ families.
Recent Pathways highlights include:
Sending monthly project materials to all Journey students including a recent STEM inspired toothpick-and-gumdrops holiday project.
College Exploration and Engagement Zoom information sessions with our Davis Scholarship partner colleges.
Our high school juniors met admissions colleagues and students/alums from University of New England, Wheaton College and Clark University.
Mission Scholars participated in Zoom group check-in sessions and enjoyed receiving Mission hoodies for their holidays.
The Student Pathways Team also recently launched a new mentoring initiative linking Mission Scholars with Journey students. Visit the Mission’s social media pages for updates.
‘Sunbeam’ crew photo not part of original Free Press Online story.
freepressonline.com
from Offshore: An Adjusted Holiday
by Eva Murray
Tuesday, December 29, 2020 8:16 AM
The Saturday before Christmas brought a calm day — itself something special — and the Maine Seacoast Mission vessel Sunbeam to our harbor. Recently sprung from a long stay at the Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, the Sunbeam had all sorts of nice interior refits and renovations, none of which were shown off to us on account of — well, you get it.
Instead, captain and engineer, nurse and chaplain (the steward being off that day) brought cookies and hot chocolate out onto the wharf, and those of us loitering around had what you might call a tailgate party with the crew. It was a nice chance to wish a happy Christmas through our masks to Mike, Storey, Sharon and Douglas, and indirectly to Jillian who we assume baked the cookies, and to acknowledge that holiday celebrations in the time of coronavirus might still be hopeful.
The Sunbeam, with its string of Christmas lights high overhead, started away before dark having four hours yet to steam home to Mt. Desert. They left their traditional white-paper-and-red-string-wrapped presents for the littles — a custom that has lasted a century.
Sharon Daley, in light gray sweatshirt, administering flu shots in October 2020. (Photo not part of Ellsworth American story.)
ellsworthamerican.com
How will Maine roll out a vaccine?
December 2, 2020 by Kate Cough on News
ELLSWORTH — Certain health-care workers and emergency responders could be given the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine sometime in December as long as the authorization process goes smoothly, said Dr. James Jarvis, medical specialist for Northern Light Health’s incident command, in a press conference on Nov. 25.
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Sharon Daley, a nurse and Island Health Services director at Maine Seacoast Mission, said she recently finished doing flu shot clinics on six islands and is waiting to hear from the state about plans for COVID-19 vaccines.
“I don’t know how far down on the list the islands will be,” said Daley. “I just want to make sure they are on the list.”
