The Last Responders

ABOUT THIS SERIES

Along with provoking a pandemic, COVID-19 has triggered a grief epidemic. It has robbed families of final goodbyes, left loved ones to die with strangers, postponed wakes and funerals. And it has overwhelmed Maine’s “Last Responders,” priests, chaplains, funeral directors and hospice workers who must work around restrictions aimed at diminishing virus infections. The Maine Monitor takes readers on an emotional journey into the lives of families who have lost loved ones and the Last Responders who must find new ways to console and comfort.

The Last Responders: Consoling the dying and grieving in the COVID-19 era

by Barbara A. Walsh | May 6, 2020

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.

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Together, to the compassionate end

by Barbara A. Walsh | Dec 20, 2020

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.

A valiant father, husband and cancer fighter loses the battle to COVID-19

by Barbara A. Walsh | May 10, 2020

After battling pancreatic cancer for 18 months, Ken Clark fell ill with COVID-19. At a central Maine hospital, his family fought to be by his side during his final moments.

Zooming a final goodbye

by Barbara A. Walsh | May 8, 2020

Unable to be by their dying mother’s bedside due to coronavirus restrictions, a family gathers on Zoom to tell their mother they loved her.

Saying goodbye to Dad

by Barbara A. Walsh | May 7, 2020

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.

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