Sunbeam Archives

News Center Maine – What Healthcare Looks Like for Maine’s Island Dwellers

by maineseacoast | Aug 8, 2019 | Island Health, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam

newscentermaine.com
LIFE
What healthcare looks like for Maine’s island dwellers
Living on an island adds a layer of complexity to all aspects of daily life, including managing one’s health.
Author: Hannah Dineen — August 7, 2019

MOUNT DESERT, Maine — Maine’s island dwellers are resilient and self-sufficient people.

However, with limited medical resources on the islands, it’s difficult for them to be self-sufficient when it comes to healthcare.

On most Maine islands, there are no medical professionals. Some have a team of civilians prepared to respond to emergency medical situations, but that’s it.

For many islanders, a trip to the doctor is an expensive endeavor that could take a full day of traveling.

Fortunately for them, there’s a group of health professionals who have made it their mission to bring healthcare from the mainland to the islands.

They work through a program called The Maine Seacoast Mission.

Sharon Daley has been the Director of Island Health Services for the Maine Seacoast Mission for the last 18-years.

“The work is important because life on the islands is important, yet it’s a way of life that’s somewhat challenged these days,” says Daley.

Full story

Great Cranberry Isles Health Fair a Success

by maineseacoast | Aug 6, 2019 | Island Health, Island Outreach, John Zavodny, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam

BAR HARBOR, ME — Approximately 20 health care providers traveled to GCI on the Moonbeam and other boats to a health fair hosted by the Maine Seacoast Mission. This provided islanders a chance to have free hearing tests by an audiologist, blood sugar checks information on breast self exam, hospice, domestic violence and home health care.

There was chance to put on a survival suit in a water safety class, learn about movement and music therapy, or make a spirit doll with an art therapist.

Having a chance for providers to meet each other to collaborate and for islanders to learn about services on a beautiful island made for a special day for all.

Thank you, Cindy Thomas, Chair of the Cranberry Isles Health Committee, for these photos of Health Fair participants. These entities are also listed here with links to their respective web sites where you can learn more about them — including how to contact them. These entities are also listed here with links to their respective web sites where you can learn more about them and how to contact them.

Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County

Healthy Acadia

Mount Desert Nursing Association

OceansWide

Breast Health Center at MDI Hospital

MDI Hospital Community Health Educator Mary Parham

Next Step Domestic Violence Project

UMaine Audiology Clinic Director/Supervisor Amy E. Booth, MA, CCC-A

Acupuncture and Nutritional Wellness with Colleen Bunker LAC

Acadia Family Center with Hilary Chermak, MS, ATR-BC, LCPC, Art Therapist

Melissa Violette, MT-BC, NMT Music Therapist

‘Moonbeam’ Crew and Volunteers Clean 21 Bags of Plastic from Island Shores

by maineseacoast | Aug 6, 2019 | Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam

NORTHEAST HARBOR, ME — The Mission’s interim boat, ‘Moonbeam,’ with crew traveled to Frenchboro, Long Island this morning for a beach clean up. Nine volunteers bagged over 21 contractor bags of washed up plastics.

Full story and photos

Maine Telemedicine Report Includes Mission Island Health Programs

by maineseacoast | Jul 29, 2019 | Island Health, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam

Photo courtesy Portland Press Herald

pressherald.com
Health care
Updated July 28
Maine still waiting for internet health care revolution
Poor broadband and out-of-step Medicare policies relegate the state’s use of telehealth to small niches when it should be in the mainstream.
By J. Craig Anderson, Staff Writer

Information technology should be revolutionizing the way patients in Maine interact with their health care providers, but poor broadband infrastructure and outdated federal policies are slowing progress to a crawl.

Many people believe the best way to increase access to quality, affordable health care in Maine is to connect more patients and providers in real time over the internet and cellular networks via an approach known broadly as telehealth, but there are major obstacles.

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[One] program, created in 2001 by the Maine Seacoast Mission, involves a boat outfitted with telehealth equipment and staffed by nurse Sharon Daley, the mission’s director of island health. The mobile telehealth service regularly visits 10 inhabited islands east of Boothbay Harbor, including Frenchboro, Isle au Haut and Matinicus.

Daley said the program has saved island residents countless hours of costly travel for routine medical appointments.

“It costs a couple hundred dollars to go off-island,” she said. “You miss a day of work.”

Full report

Sunbeam Refit Update – Captain Loses a Shower, Steward Gains a Freezer

by maineseacoast | Jul 25, 2019 | Island Health, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam

BELFAST, ME — Thank you, Captain Michael Johnson for keeping us up-to-speed, through words and photos, of progress on the Sunbeam refit.

The shower on the Sunbeam upper level, used only by me, is being removed. Two showers on a smallish boat are not necessary. This area will be repurposed into a closet with an upright freezer so Jillian, the Sunbeam Steward, will not have to leave the main deck for anything other than sleep. The blue tape shows the general outline of the freezer. This new configuration will also improve traffic flow in the forward hallway.

This area behind the pilot house is the re-vamped ventilation inlet for the lower cabins. This will allow better airflow to the lower deck areas with increased crew comfort in summer. The installed fan will be variable speed and reversible. Combined with open portholes we can quickly cool the cabins on hot days.