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Monitor healthcare reporter Rose Lundy has been writing about care for older adults in Maine for years now. The situation is often bleak: Mainers who are authorized for homecare who can't find any help at all; an increase in the use of antipsychotics among nursing home residents, after years of decline; a lack of inspections among facilities whose residents have wandered away, nursing homes struggling to find staff and stay afloat. 

The Alzheimer’s Association has classified Maine as a “neurology dementia desert,” estimating there will be fewer than 10 neurologists per 10,000 people with dementia by 2025. 

Maine — the oldest state in the nation — had a mere 36 geriatricians practicing here in 2021, according to the nonprofit organization, and will need to increase those ranks by about 97 percent to meet the need in 2050. Meanwhile, the number of psychiatrists in the state has been falling, with 60 employed in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This week, Lundy looks at a dementia care clinic in Aroostook County that is trying to solve this problem of too-few specialists with a hybrid approach. 

“There truly is a huge need here,” said Vi Belanger, manager of the Memory Care Center. “We have limited primary care, and we have limited dementia specialty.”

— Kate

As need for dementia specialists grows, one rural clinic takes a hybrid approach 

In the oldest state in the country, a tenth of Mainers over the age of 65 have dementia. But the number of dementia specialists, across multiple disciplines, has remained low and in some cases is shrinking.

At the Aroostook Memory Care Center, in Presque Isle, a dementia specialist meets with staff to review patient files and advise primary care doctors — from 150 miles away.

Read this story by Rose Lundy of The Maine Monitor

In Wells, a ghost forest rises: Sea level rise is expected to fully submerge the estaurine lands at the Wells Reserve by the end of the century. Read this story by Kate Cough, co-published with the Portland Press Herald.

Group explores ambulance vessels as part of solution to island care crisis: Ambulance boats, which are common in countries like Norway, would function as floating mini hospitals. Read this story by Adrienne Washington.

Gulf of Maine lobsters are experiencing a housing crisis: Between 1984 and 2014, the lobster population in the Gulf of Maine jumped an estimated 515 percent. Read this story by Kate Cough.

A look at Maine’s aging housing stock: Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that nearly a quarter of Maine homes were built before 1940, contributing to the state’s ongoing housing crisis. Read this story by George Harvey.

Naomi Schalit and John Christie to be inducted into Maine Press Association Hall of Fame: The co-founders of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting will be honored as “pioneers of Maine’s non-profit media landscape.” Read this story.

‘Dark store’ theory: Walmart, large retailers push to cut millions in property taxes statewide

Municipalities lose hundreds of thousands whether they fight the retailers or not, and a slow-moving state appeals board doesn’t help.

Read this story by Kate Cough 

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