I wanted to show how people adapt…I wanted to show their resilience”
Author: Rob Caldwell
Updated: 4:19 PM EDT April 26, 2021
PORTLAND, Maine — In his new memoir, “Go by Boat: Stories of a Maine Island Doctor,” Chuck Radis has a quotation from another physician: “The diseases are easy; the patients are hard.”
When Dr. Radis began serving the residents of four islands in Casco Bay (Peaks, Long, Chebeague, and Cliff) he discovered something else that was hard—just getting around. He spent about eleven hours of every workweek riding on a ferry, going from one island to another to make housecalls. Many of the islanders had no interest in traveling to Portland for medical care.