A journalist can’t help but think of her father’s death as she writes and reports on dying during the coronavirus pandemic.
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
The Last Responders: Consoling the dying and grieving in the COVID-19 era
The coronavirus pandemic’s last responders – Maine’s priests, chaplains, funeral directors and hospice workers − say the highly infectious virus has upended how they do their jobs. Barred from entering most hospitals and long-term living facilities, chaplains and priests must offer comfort, consolation and prayers electronically. Families are robbed of a final goodbye, and those who are dying of COVID − or any other illness in a confined setting – must die with strangers while longing for the touch of a loved one.
A doctor who can’t stand on the sidelines
For the past month, Dr. Jennifer McConnell has volunteered at the coronavirus screening tent at MaineGeneral Health in Augusta. As the first line of defense against COVID-10, McConnell has screened over 200 people while providing much-needed information and comfort.
Reflection: A New Normal
As the virus sweeps across the globe, the U.S. and my home state of Maine, my anxiety spikes with each devastating report. Nearly 800 Italians die in 24 hours. Overwhelmed hospitals and medical workers without protective gear. Faulty tests, not enough tests; more than 4,000 Americans dead with a predicted 236,000 more to die.
Maine ranks 9th in number of children impacted by opioid crisis
Maine will need an estimated $2 billion by 2030 to treat and care for opioid-affected children.
Focusing on Maine’s most innocent victims
Figuring out how to stop babies from being born affected by opioids is one of many objectives for the man hired to put an end to Maine’s drug crisis.
Legislators concur: Number of opiate-dependent babies in Maine must go down
In response to a fall Pine Tree Watch series, Maine Congressional delegation members say they’ll keep fighting to expand funds to pay for prevention, treatment and related services.
From depths of addiction to symbol of hope
Drug-free for three years after battling addictions since age 12, mom and advocate Courtney Allen looks to a healthy future with her sons.
Meant to love and care for special babies
An experienced foster mom refuses to give up on her opiate-exposed infant.
Desperate to change
After losing custody of her first five daughters because of an opiate addiction, a Maine mother battles her illness and the odds to keep her new baby.
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