Category: News & Events

Machias – Medical Lab Technician, Brenda Wood, retires from Down East Community Hospital after many years of dedicated service.

President & CEO, Steve Lail, on Brenda’s retirement, “We all have mixed emotions as we say farewell to Brenda Wood.  We are sad to see her go but happy she has begun her well-deserved retirement.  We will miss her kind, knowledgeable presence at Down East Community Hospital.  Brenda was employed here for nearly 49 years and was a valued employee and co-worker form day one.”

Brenda started as a CNA on OB in 1975 after being hired by Joan Miller, RN. Back then she was known as Brenda Tuell.   Brenda worked with Drs. MacBride, Robertson, Shaw, Burke, Graham and Gaddis and nurses Gerry Moody, Joanna Strout, Laurie Curtis, Betty Woodward, and many others.

“When I started, the front desk had a manual switchboard, and I remember watching Gayle Sprague plugging the lines in just like Lily Tomlin did on the show Laugh In.”

Brenda began working in the Lab in 1992 as a phlebotomist and in 2002, with the support of DECH, she went back to school to become a Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) and began that part of her career in 2004.  Brenda recounted, “DECH paid half of my schooling, and I paid the other half.  All I had to do was agree to a 2-year commitment and that was no problem because I did not plan on moving.  After my 2 years were up, DECH even reimbursed me for the half I paid.”

Brenda did a fabulous job in her role as a MLT and nobody could ask for a more dedicated professional. We wish Brenda Wood a long, happy, healthy retirement.

Machias – October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, allowing a vital opportunity to shine a light on the impact of breast cancer on individuals and families everywhere. This month serves not only to honor those who have bravely battled the disease, but also to advocate for early detection, education, and ongoing research.

Down East Community Hospital’s Mammography team Renee Dinsmore, Emily Ramsdell, and Jennifer Warren put on a paint and sip event at West Branch Farms to help raise breast cancer awareness because so many lives are touched by this disease.

In Maine, breast cancer is a significant public health concern. Approximately 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed in their lifetime. Each year, about 1,200 new cases are reported, and breast cancer accounts for nearly 30% of all cancer diagnoses among women in our state. Furthermore, Maine has one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the nation, emphasizing the urgent need for increased awareness and access to screening.

Regular screenings are crucial, as they can detect cancer early when it is most treatable. In Maine, nearly 70% of women over fifty have had a mammogram in the past two years, but we must work to ensure that all women have access to these life-saving services, regardless of socioeconomic status or geographic location. Last year the Imaging Department at Down East Community Hospital performed over two thousand mammograms.

Throughout October, we encourage everyone to engage in conversations about breast health, support fundraising efforts for research, and participate in local events. Whether it is wearing pink, sharing information on social media, or volunteering with organizations dedicated to breast cancer support, each action contributes to a larger movement.

This October, and beyond, let us stand together in spreading awareness, advocating for change, and offering unwavering support. Every effort, no matter how small, contributes to the collective fight against breast cancer. Together, we can make a profound difference in the lives of those in our local community and beyond.

Auxiliary Beautifies Hospital Courtyard with $1,600 Pergola  8/30/24

Machias – At Down East Community Hospital in Machias, staff and patients alike are thankful for the Auxiliary and the many hours of work they have put into beautifying the courtyard over the years. Not only do they weed, plant, and care for beautiful flowers, but they also recently donated an amazing pergola!

CEO Steve Lail, “Over the years the Auxiliary has made the courtyard a beautiful, calming area; we had no idea they could make it even better!  The pergola adds to the beauty of the courtyard and provides much needed shade from the sun so the people who spend time there can do it more comfortably.  We appreciate the Auxiliary’s continued commitment to the hospital, staff, and our patients.  The DECH Auxiliary members are remarkable, and they continue to amaze us; we are grateful for them and all they do.”

Machias and Calais – DECH and CCH is once again bringing in a national speaker for Washington County students.  This will be the third speaker event for Washington County youth coordinated by DECH and CCH. Previous sessions were held in the Fall of 2023 (grades 9-12) and Spring of 2024 (grades 6-8).  The events this Fall will once again focus on students in grades 9-12.  Three days of presentations will take place Sep 12-16 across Washington County.  All area high school students are invited, and we hope they seize this invaluable opportunity.

Assisting us in bringing this opportunity to our area’s youth are Sponsors Woodland Pulp and Machias Savings Bank  The support of these area businesses will assist DECH and CCH in their efforts to continue to host these events.

How this came about – In developing long range Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) plans for 2023-2025, Calais and Down East Community Hospitals set a goal of reaching out to the youth of our communities about some of the tough topics that are prevalent in our area – mental health, substance abuse, suicide, etc.  While we really wish our children were not aware of these issues, we know they see it, some live it, many experience it every day.  Our plan is to support organizations that are already working with youth on these issues, as well as looking at new avenues to reach our youngest community members.  One of the projects we decided to take on was to bring a youth speaker to the area to provide a message of hope, be candid on these tough topics, and leave teens with some tools for dealing with such things in life. It is our plan to repeat these activities next school year as well with a speaker in the fall for high school students and another in the spring for grades 6 through 8.

The speaker – Kyle Quilausing is living proof of the power of your choices.  Born in Hilo, Hawaii, Kyle’s upbringing was ideal. He describes being brought up by his grandfather with wholesome family values and strong morals and ethics. After his grandfather introduced him to golf at the age of 5, Kyle quickly fell in love with the sport, dedicating every waking moment to perfecting his craft and becoming a six-time state golf champion, winning 16 titles, coming 4th in the world, and playing alongside Tiger Woods at ten years old. But after allowing his relative success to make him arrogant and prideful, Kyle was expelled from high school in his senior year, which became the catalyst for a downward spiral that eventually led him to become a 98-pound crystal meth addict, labeled Hawaii’s most wanted and a menace to society.

Kyle’s addiction ultimately led him to spend a decade behind bars. At what might be considered his rock bottom, he dedicated himself to his sobriety (Kyle is over fifteen years sober.) He committed to doing everything in his power to better himself so he could build a legacy of youth empowerment and education upon his release.

As a motivational speaker, Kyle is engaging and charismatic; it’s impossible not to smile when encountering Kyle’s lighthearted nature. He shares a powerful and poignant message that you are always one choice away from a different life. As a Top Youth Speaker with a powerful story of adversity, regrets, and, finally, triumph, Kyle is on a bold mission to use his real-life experiences to educate and empower the youth in making healthy, wise choices for a productive life.

Today, Kyle, a successful businessman, and motivational speaker, champions the importance of every choice we make. He’s spoken at over 200 schools in the past five years and continues to educate the youth on the life-changing power of their choices. With a vision to become the positive mentor figure that his grandfather was to him, he helps students avoid the same pitfalls that he experienced. Kyle teaches students to embrace life’s possibilities, change negative behaviors and patterns, and achieve freedom through deciding to make positive choices for their present.

New Board Member Approved at Hospital Annual Meeting 6/28/24

Machias and Calais – Down East Community Hospital and Calais Community Hospital held its annual meeting of the Corporators on Wednesday, June 27.  CEO, Steve Lail, reported the financial health of both hospitals as well as accomplishments, recruitment, and community outreach.  Mr. Lail reported that Calais Community Hospital ended the year with a gain of $267,874 and that Down East Community Hospital ended with a loss of $763,416, which is mostly attributed to the necessary use of temporary personnel.  You can find more information in the 2023 Annual Report which is available on the DECH and CCH websites.

The Board Chair, Jacqueline O’Clair, provided a message from the board and thanked the Administration, staff, and Trustees for their hard work.  She also showed appreciation for the corporators and recognized the importance of their continued advocacy for both hospitals.

Dwight Perkins was approved as a board member at the meeting.  Dwight and his wife, Jackie, retired to Washington County, in 2009 after successful careers in law and finance.  His love for the area really started fifty years earlier on a fishing trip to Grand Lake Stream when, as a twelve-year-old, he decided where this was where he would retire.   He is a property owner of lakefront property in Grand Lake Stream, Big Lake Township and Princeton. He is Maine resident by choice and not by default.  His commitment and focus is Downeast Maine from the perspectives of life quality, business, public facilities, and recreation.  He is the chair of a newly developing charitable foundation that will benefit Downeast Maine.

He attended Middlebury (VT) College, Northeastern (MA) University, University of Chicago, and Dartmouth (NH) University.  He is a licensed insurance agent, financial planner, realtor, and NASD registered.  His career was in finance and insurance both at a company level and as an owner of his own business.  He served our country as an officer in the US Army and in state law enforcement.  He is a certified firearms instructor, scuba diver, welder, and arson investigator.  Board Chair Jacqueline O’Clair on Dwight joining the Board, “His qualities match what we are looking for in a board member and we are pleased to have another representative from the Calais area.  He is a great addition to our board, and we look forward to working with him”.

Current members of the board are Jackie O’Clair, Chair, Judd Bragg, PharmD, Vice Chair, Nate Martell, Secretary, Ian Pratt, Treasurer, John Corrigan, Corey Schwinn, Betty Marshall, Tom Moholland, Julie Jordan, Jody Dennison, MD, and Rita Ten, MD, Raymond Howard, MD, and Dwight Perkins.

Karmen and Colin Pineo with Their Latest Bundle of Joy, Pierce Pineo

Machias – The first baby born at Down East Community Hospital in Machias arrived at 6:02am, Sunday, January 14.  Pierce Pineo, third son of Colin and Karmen Pineo of Jonesboro, weighed in at 9lbs, 1 oz. and a length of twenty-one inches.  This healthy, beautiful baby boy is the little brother of Bentlee, age 5, and Kiegan, age 2.

Pierce, looking perfectly calm and healthy in his mother’s arms, was delivered by Christian Inegbenijie, MD just like his brothers. Karmen stated, “Dr. Inegbenijie is wonderful. He delivered all my boys and I just love him, and the nurses were great”.

The basket presented to the family was filled with items from the DECH Auxiliary Gift Shop, gift cards from local businesses, a beautiful handmade tote made and donated by Kim Bragg, and a handmade blanket crocheted by Kay Richmond.

Join us in congratulating the Pineo family on the birth of their latest bundle of joy!

December 19, 2023

CEO, Steve Lail thanks Auxiliary President, Pat Hennessey for the very generous $1000 donation to the hospital.

Machias – The Down East Community Hospital Auxiliary donated $1,000 to the hospital’s annual Light A Life fundraiser which brought the total funds raised to $6,200. The funds raised for this year’s event will go towards National Youth Speaker programs for Washington County youth from grades 6 – 12. These events will center around providing a message of hope, be candid about tough topics that are prevalent in our area such as mental health, substance abuse, and bullying and leave our pre-teens and teens with tools to deal with these issues.

CEO, Steve Lail, on the Auxiliary’s latest donation, “The Auxiliary has been an integral part of the hospital since 1964 and we are forever grateful for all they do. They not only hold fundraisers to help support the hospital, but they are also our tireless ambassador to the community and treasured members of the DECH family.”

December 18, 2023

Paige Sinford and Lyman Beecher – DECH Employees of the Year pictured with CEO, Steve Lail, after he presented them with their awards.

Paige Sinford, CMA and Lyman Beecher were chosen as Down East Community Hospital’s 2023 Employees of the Year! Lyman is our non-clinical Employee of the Year and Paige is our clinical Employee of the Year.  Paige works at Family Practice at the Down East Health Center and Lyman works in the Hospital in Materials Management.

DECH staff nominated their peers for these awards by completing a form and providing information and specifics on why staff should be considered. Factors considered are dependability, initiative, attitude, and teamwork. Many great things were shared about all the nominees, the following are a few excerpts from Paige and Lyman’s nomination forms:

“Paige goes above and beyond for family practice as well as other departments. She is always there if anyone needs help. She dives into any situation with both feet and does not think of anything but patient care and the task at hand. We are very lucky to have her at family practice.  Paige is constantly pulled into other departments when needed to fill in and she does this in a very professional and courteous manner. Paige carries out her duties and helps others with theirs. She does this to make sure all assignments are completed correctly and in a timely manner for the best possible patient care. She is dependable and I wish the organization had many more just like her.”

“Lyman is a very hard worker, detail oriented, and takes real pride in doing his job to the best of his abilities. When asked to help in other areas of the hospital, he exhibits this same dedication and attention to detail. You can always count on him. You know that if Lyman says he will do something, you can be confident it will get done. He understands that everyone plays a part in making this organization work and he is always on your team when needed. Lyman interacts with both employees and patients/visitors with a very positive approach and willingness to help. He has never responded in a negative manner to any request or conversation. Observing him with staff he is always professional, very polite, and helpful. His response to department needs is always timely and often much ahead of expectations.”

The full list of nominees included Brandy Wood, Nick Cianciola, Vanessa Feeney, Julia Alley, Penny Sneed, Brandis Townsend, Lanie Brenton, Trish Morrison, Susan Tinker, Crystal Richard, Connie Sylvia, Dr. Crowley, Joe Bragg, and Dr. Massaad

Congratulations to both of our winners and all our nominees. Thank you for the great jobs you do every day and the special way you care for our patients and your co-workers!

November 22, 2023

Steve Lail, CEO of Down East Community Hospital and Calais Community Hospital and COO/CFO Lynnette Parr pose for a photo with Nicole Breton, Director, Rural Health, and Primary Care Program, Maine CDC, Maine DHHS after receiving their Rural Health Community Star Awards at the State House in Augusta.

Machias – Down East Community Hospital CEO, Steve Lail, and COO/CFO, Lynnette Parr were presented Rural Health Community Star Awards at the National Rural Health Day celebration held at the State House on November 16, 2023.  They were recognized for their work to preserve health care access in Maine by embarking on the bold local solution of purchasing the Calais hospital when it faced closure to ensure services would be accessible in the eastern most area of the county.

Over a year ago, the leadership of Down East Community Hospital released the following statement:

“Our organization decided to take on and embrace this endeavor because we strongly believe that having a thriving, financially stable hospital in Calais is crucial if the health care needs of all those in Washington County are to be met. We did not make this decision lightly.  There were many months of planning and vetting.  We moved ahead because it became clear we should, not only because we are confident in the abilities of our team, but also because we could not sit idly by and do nothing.”

They made this pledge to the community, “We Will Live Our Mission to improve the health of the people in the Sunrise County by being as passionate, determined and resilient as those we service by balancing exceptional services, financial integrity, current technology, staff satisfaction and collaborative community involvement.”

When asked about the challenges that they have faced and overcome, CFO Lynnette Parr notes, “The creation and turnaround of Calais Community Hospital has been the most challenging and rewarding of my career.  Seeing the impact of our work is inspiring.  We have connected the two hospitals as a whole new family of staff that have embraced our new system and put in the work for us to be successful.  Our shared resources have provided a significant positive impact for both hospitals and has allowed us to create a shared vision for the future.

We have implemented measures to enhance revenues and reduce costs while maintaining needed healthcare services.  Our efforts have brought the hospital back to profitability and we continue to focus on the growth of our combined system to help address the challenges of maintaining services in a remote area.”

CEO, Steve Lail added, “Over the past two years we have made significant improvements to care at Calais Community by expanding services and adding specialty care such as orthopedics and general surgery.  We have seen positive changes in the finances of the hospital and our support among our staff and the Calais community is very strong and continues to grow. We are moving forward with a new family practice clinic in Baileyville, and our long-term goal is to continue to grow the services we provide at Calais Community Hospital and along with Down East Community Hospital in Machias we hope to remain independent and serve the best needs of the people of Washington County.

Steve Lail, on receiving the awards, “We are humbled and honored to receive this recognition and are grateful to the staff at both hospitals who continue to be committed to provide access to quality health care here in Washington County; We can’t do it without them.  We also want to recognize the importance of the community support we receive and thank all those who continue to utilize our services.

November 6, 2023

Machias and Calais – DECH and CCH will bring in a national speaker for the High School Students in Washington County. The events will take place November 28 – 30.  The event for DECH area students will be held at the Performing Arts Center at UMM on November 28 and the event for the CCH area students will be held at Calais High School on November 29 and Woodland High School on November 30. All area high schools have been invited and we hope they seize this invaluable opportunity to reach our teens.

How this came about – In developing long range Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) plans for 2023-2025, Calais and Down East Community Hospitals set a goal of reaching out to the youth of our communities about some of the tough topics that are prevalent in our area – mental health, substance abuse, suicide, etc.  While we really wish our children were not aware of these issues, we know they see it, some live it, many experience it every day.  Our plan is to support organizations that are already working with youth on these issues, as well as looking at new avenues to reach our youngest community members.  One of the projects we decided to take on was to bring a youth speaker to the area to provide a message of hope, be candid on these tough topics, and leave teens with some tools for dealing with such things in life. It is our plan to bring a speaker in the spring and invite area grade school students in grades 6 through 8 then bring another speaker in the fall of 2024 for High School students.

The speaker – Jessie Clark-Funk, MSW is a therapeutic coach and the Kindness Crew director for the nonprofit organization, Think Kindness.  She holds a leadership certification from the University of Notre Dame, is a certified life coach, and holds a B.S. Degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Social Work.  Jessie is a former leadership facilitator for Franklin Covey and has also been a professional youth speaker for 18 years, speaking to over one million teens in high schools and at leadership conferences nationwide.

Jessie has released five award-winning solo albums as a professional singer and toured to 37 states with the Broadway tour of Footloose.  She is a published author, has a black belt in karate, and is the mom of two teenagers.  Her voice has been heard on “America’s Got Talent, “The Biggest Loser,” and ESPN.  She is currently working on her doctorate degree and building a summer leadership camp and ranch in the mountains of Utah.

Jessie takes a research-based approach to teach the importance of making good choices. She gives students four proven tools that can take their lives from average to extraordinary. She addresses healthy vs. toxic relationships, bullying prevention, lessons from history’s greatest leaders and she does all this while sharing personal, hilarious stories, and dynamic pop music. We are excited to bring her message to these students.

If her talk results in reaching even one, it matters but we hope and believe it will be more.