As the pandemic worsened mental health and substance use challenges statewide, a record-high 58 people died from overdoses in January. The losses have hit the Passamaquoddy tribe especially hard.
Barbara A. Walsh
Barbara is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has worked for newspapers in Ireland, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Florida. While working at the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, Walsh reported on first-degree killer William Horton Jr. and Massachusetts’ flawed prison-furlough system. The series changed in-state sentencing and furlough laws and won a 1988 Pulitzer Prize. During her career at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Barbara wrote in-depth series on several social issues in Maine. Many of her stories changed laws and earned national, state and regional awards. Barbara is also the author of an adult biography/memoir, August Gale: A Father and Daughter’s Journey into the Storm, and Sammy in the Sky, a children’s book illustrated by Jamie Wyeth. She lives on a lake in Maine with her two daughters, husband and Paco, a rescue dog from Puerto Rico. When she is not writing, taking pictures or walking Paco, she can be found sitting by the lake, comforted by its blue-green waters.
LATEST ARTICLES
A need for awareness
In a county with few mental health resources, community members are rallying to increase peer support and education around suicide.
Alone with the grief, alone with the pain
The Stewarts are just one family in Washington County forced to struggle with suicide in an area where demand for help far outweighs the number of mental health providers.
The crushing toll of a pandemic in Maine’s ‘forgotten county’
During a tragic winter that saw four suicides and prolonged isolation, Baileyville Police Chief Bob Fitzsimmons has served as a guardian, confidant and friend to the people in northeastern Washington County.
Together, to the compassionate end
A pastor and his wife, both suffering from COVID-19, were together through the final moments of a half-century marriage because of the efforts of a loving doctor and a do-what-it-takes Houlton hospital.
The rise of angels during a hellish year
In a time of astonishing goodwill and soul-crushing loss, ordinary Mainers have done extraordinary things to help others get through the pandemic.
Finding holiday gratitude in the time of COVID
Chairs at the table may be missing, and some for good, but a focus on remembering the good times, the good things, can get us through the holidays.
Playing God with public health
Seven weeks after officiating the now infamous East Millinocket wedding that has resulted in the deaths of eight Maine residents, Sanford pastor Todd Bell continues to defy state and local orders aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19.
The dream of flight — delivered by prayer
Sanford pastor Todd Bell has relied on the kindness of others to support his Wings with the Word aviation ministry and his mission to “plant” churches around Maine.
The Uninvited Tragedy: A wedding — then six funerals
The deaths and infections from COVID-19 in a long-term healthcare facility continue to pile up, leaving families in mourning after a super-spreader event about 100 miles away.
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