Published May 5, 2021 at 7:00 AM EDT
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Getting medical care can be difficult under the best of circumstances. For those living in one of Maine’s many island communities, accessing health care is a particular challenge. We’ll hear from a doctor who’s spent much of his career serving Mainers who live on an island, as well as others who are helping to find solutions.
Panelist:
Chuck Radis, primary care physician serving Maine islands; background in osteopathic medicine and internal medicine; serves year-round islands in Casco Bay; author of
Go By Boat, about being an island doctor.
Vaccine clinic brings hope, relief to elders on Peaks Island
Front-line immunization teams from Northern Light Health and MaineHealth administer shots to 130 senior residents of the community to fend off COVID-19.
Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Reta Morrill got a rousing Peaks Island welcome when she stepped out of the cold and into the warmth of the community hall at the Brackett Memorial Church.
Born and raised on Peaks, 89-year-old Morrill was a fixture at the island market for four decades before COVID-19 made it too risky for her to continue working there as a cashier.
On Sunday, Morrill was one of 130 island elders who got their first shot of the Moderna vaccine during a Valentine’s Day clinic organized by islanders and others, most of them volunteers. They included a group of nurses from the mainland who woke early to ride the ferry from Portland and deliver the vaccine as the sun was rising over an icy gray Casco Bay.