Director of Island Health Sharon Daley, RN, started working at the Mission in 2000 and will retire after 22 years of working with the island communities. When she joined the Mission, Sharon initially focused on setting up the home health and telehealth program. However, she immediately noticed mental health services were needed and worked with mental health care providers to set up telehealth appointments on the Sunbeam. One of the providers she connected with was Dr. Diehl Snyder, a psychiatrist who led the behavioral health center at Mount Desert Island Hospital. Dr. Snyder was given the Sunbeam award for his participation in Mission programming and commitment to islanders, and he currently serves on the Mission’s Board of Directors. Dr. Snyder shared his memories of Sharon in this message to the Mission.
—–
“When my wife, Susan, and I moved to Maine in 2003, I began work at the MDI Hospital Behavioral Health Center in Bar Harbor. We offered care to any person who requested our services and could drive to our outpatient office. Within the first year of my Maine work I received a call from Sharon at the Maine Seacoast Mission asking if I would consider taking care of persons who lived on outer islands via telemedicine connections. Since I had done similar work with isolated rural Pennsylvania patients, I said yes. She made calls to many other mainland healthcare providers and got similar responses. Who could say no to Sharon?
Sharon then invited me to come aboard the Sunbeam. She showed me the boat’s medical room with its telemedicine equipment. Her dream was to have matching telemedicine equipment in our MDI Hospital Behavioral Health Center. When the Sunbeam made its scheduled visits to the Islands, patients could receive psychiatric evaluations, follow-up medication supervision, and psychotherapy without the burden of traveling to the mainland. Through her dogged determination and caring persistence, she turned that dream into reality!
Becoming part of Sharon’s living, working, telemedicine system which provided health care to these island communities, has been one of the most satisfying activities of my professional work. Many of these islanders did not know where to turn for help. Sharon would listen to their problems and gently, Sunbeam visit by Sunbeam visit, she guided them to the appropriate healthcare providers via telemedicine. Sharon was always in the medical room on the boat and would introduce the patient and their problem to the practitioner on the other end of the telemedicine connection. She coached these patients on formulating treatment plans that were workable within their Island lifestyle as they consulted with their telehealth providers on the mainland. Sharon was the glue that held this amazing, floating, rural, healthcare system together!
In 2010, psychiatric resident physicians from the University of Pennsylvania began spending two-week rural, behavioral health rotations at MDI Hospital each summer. Sharon invited each of these resident physicians to spend a day with her on the Sunbeam observing real rural Maine psychiatric care on her beloved islands. Every resident reported that their time with Sharon on the Sunbeam was one of the highlights of their Maine medical experiences.
Sharon has been an inspiring, caring, patient centered colleague that helped me to take better care of all my patients.”
In her time at the Maine Seacoast Mission, Sharon Daley’s work as the Director of Island Health has landed her in the pages of The Washington PostandNewsweek, and on TV in a national Walgreens ad. But to the islanders she serves, Sharon is just Sharon: a confidante, friend, a fellow islander, and someone they can trust. Sharon is retiring after 22 years at the Mission at the end of the year.
Mission President John Zavodny says, “Sharon Daley has made her mark on both the islands and the Mission. She has always provided a high level of health care and personal support and she does it a perfect blend of candor, compassion, and smarts. Speaking of leaving a mark, Sharon gives a pain-free shot. Ask anyone who has been vaccinated by her.”
Sharon says she is most proud of the connection she formed with the islanders. When she started with the Mission, she knew Sunbeam’sreputation within the island community, and being a member of the crew, meant people were more likely to trust her. Sharon came aboard the Sunbeam in 2000 to start the telemedicine program at the Mission. Sharon was tasked with connecting the islands to mainland hospitals and clinics through new telemedicine equipment.
Michael Johnson, the Sunbeam’sCaptain, who started the same day as Sharon as the Sunbeam’s engineer (though she was hired five minutes earlier, as she likes to point out), worked with her to get the telemedicine equipment up and running. “She was struggling with the technology of it, and I was new on the boat and wanted to help her. Between the two of us, we kind of figured out the whole telemedicine thing in the beginning. When you are out on an island there is no tech support, there is no IT person that can come, so you are basically winging it. That was her signature program in the beginning.”
Reflecting on her time with the Mission, Sharon shares, “I didn’t start at the Mission with pre-conceived notions of the work needing to be done. I went in looking for the needs that existed. The Mission has always allowed me to do that.” What started as telehealth morphed into home visits because some people were homebound. She says, “We started with primary care, but it became clear there was a need for behavioral health.” Once telehealth services were in place, she recognized people couldn’t easily get blood work due to challenges of getting on and off island. “The Mission integrated lab draws into the Island Health program, and then the need for flu shots came up. So, we started doing that. Then we started a WIC program.” Sharon’s role evolved as more needs were uncovered. While many aspects of delivering healthcare are different than on the mainland, Sharon’s commitment to her patients and the islands has never wavered. She continued to learn and adapted to the changes that come with living on an island.
PHOTO BY HERB SWANSONPHOTO BY HERB SWANSON
“She really cares deeply about people, how they are doing, and what they are doing. She works with them so that they can be healthy, happy, and content,” says Douglas Cornman, Director of Island Outreach. “She does this tirelessly. I have never seen Sharon say no when someone needs her help or her guidance.” Mike shares that Sharon’s job truly is 24/7 and that she will always answer a call from a patient, even in the middle of the night. The relationships she has built with islanders means many come to her in their toughest moments. “They know that someone cares for them, looking out for them, even when they don’t want to hear what she has to say,” Douglas says. “She will tell you the hard stuff, but she does it in a way that people know she has their best interest in mind.”
Over the years, Sharon has focused on all aspects of living and aging on an island. Part of her work was founding and facilitating the Island Eldercare Network. The network brings together island residents and healthcare providers who work with elders on the islands to share resources, network, and continue to aid those who wish to stay on island. When Sharon saw there was a need to connect islanders with mental health resources, she contacted local providers and facilitated telemedicine visits on the Sunbeam. As people struggled with addiction, she was instrumental in getting Narcan stations set up and connecting island residents to AA meetings. When the Covid pandemic struck, Sharon worked with the Maine Center for Disease Control to ensure islanders had access to vaccinations work later featured in newspapers across the country. The national attention never changed her dedication to the work she did or how she approached it.
Two nurses who have worked with her over the years on the Sunbeam, Maureen Giffin, RN, and Peggy Akers, RN, both say Sharon formed relationships most nurses do not get to have with their patients. “Because of her longevity and ability to build relationships, she has been a trusted person islanders confide in. She made the time to sit down with people and be a listening board. Whatever they were going through whether it is a loss in their families or trauma, she was there.” Maureen says, “She’s been on the islands for so long that she’s seen babies born and grow up. These are people she sees coming to clinics and during the holidays.” Peggy adds, “You don’t often get to be an integral part of someone’s life journey. But in her role, she has. She has built connections with people. She’s the epitome of everything that is good about nursing! “
Douglas and Mike both say that they will miss Sharon’s humor aboard the Sunbeam, her ability to add levity to their time on the boat and how deeply she cared for the crew that she worked with. They shared stories of the way she put people at ease and showed up for both the crew and her patients time after time. Sharon herself says, “The Sunbeam family is a boat family. We get to be a part of the community. We’re a part of the islands’ family. We’re a safe space, a respite. We’ll be on island and say, ‘Ok, I’m going to go home,’ and we’re talking about the boat. We have learned to live together, laugh together.”
When asked what she’s most proud of in her tenure with the Mission, she points to the Covid clinics, but also to her relationships with the people who call the islands home. “If someone is having a problem, I want to know it and sometimes that means being available on nights and weekends. Helping people transition throughout their lives is meaningful in their lives and for me. Be it setting up hospice care or working with agencies to assist in providing services, having a relationship with a patient requires their trust. That has been most rewarding.”
With Christmas just around the corner, the Mission’s elves are hard at work making sure that they get presents to families and community members throughout Hancock and Washington Counties. Stephanie Moores, Community and Family Engagement Program Manager, asks that gifts are mailed by Saturday, Dec. 10 or dropped off at the Mission before Friday, Dec. 16 to make sure the elves have enough time to distribute the presents.
Items ordered online from the Mission’s Amazon Christmas wish list will be shipped directly to the Mission. A full Christmas wish list can be found here and items on the list can be sent to the addresses below.
This fall, copies of TheBulletin made their way across the country and into the mailboxes of Mission supporters. This issue of The Bulletin focused on the concept of engagement. John Zavodny, Mission President, wrote in his message, “As we learn to live with Covid and emerge from our hidey holes, this fall feels like a time of reengagement and, even though we’re still being careful, reengagement feels good. In these pages you will find stories of engagement and reengagement.”
The main story featured a look at the Mission’s Community and Family Engagement program which brings together many of our programs on the Downeast Campus under one umbrella. This program supports community members in a multifaceted and comprehensive way and looks at how to best meet their needs.
The Bulletin also included stories on the Mission’s work on unbridged islands. The Mount Desert Island Hospital chose the Mission as their 2022 Healthcare Partner of the Year for our work setting up vaccination clinics and telemedicine programs during the pandemic. Douglas Cornman, Director of Island Outreach, highlighted the Mission’s work bringing Christmas presents to island residents.
Another piece introduced the Downeast Exploration Fund started by Gigi Georges, author of Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America, and her husband Jeff Oxman. The Fund provides financial support to children in Washington County who wish to explore their passions and pursue experiences not otherwise available to them.
There was also a peek into the Mission’s past with a look at our archives. The article originally was published in the Ellsworth American.
On Sunday, December 11, the Mission will host its very first Christmas Celebration Downeast! Across our 63-acre campus, enjoy refreshments and a festive atmosphere full of holiday cheer. There will be family-friendly activities for all ages!
ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:
● 2-5pm: Craft activities and photo booth
● 3-5pm: Visits with Santa Claus (and his Christmas sheep)
● 3:30-5pm: S’mores, hot cocoa bar, and our weekly Downeast Table of Plenty community potluck and meal
● 4-5pm: Story time with Santa’s Elves
For those who wish to enjoy the outdoors, a jolly campfire will be held outside the Weald Bethel Community Center and our trails are open for self-exploration.
Join us on Saturday, December 3 as we celebrate the holidays at our Christmas Open House during the Northeast Harbor Christmas Festival! We’ll host a bunch of activities and offer a warm place to warm up between town festivities.
ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:
● 2-3pm: craft a jingle bell “noisemaker” to welcome Santa and Mrs. Claus off the Sunbeam!
● 3-3:30pm: the Mission boat, the Sunbeam, delivers Santa and Mrs. Claus to Northeast Harbor marina. Don’t miss it! Bring your singing voices to join with the carolers!
● 5-7pm: warm up with hot cider, doughnuts, and other refreshments. Santa will visit and families can craft greeting cards.
