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As we roll through our intermittently-rainy-and-then-gorgeous season, communities across the state are putting up flags in preparation for the Fourth of July. Soon we'll be enjoying fireworks, barbecues and a long weekend — a nice break amid the hustle and bustle of a busy summer in Maine.

It's also an opportunity to take stock of how fortunate we are to live where we do. This is the season of school budget votes and town meetings, not to mention the rhetoric of an election year, and it can be easy to get swept up in the furor and the politics of everything and miss the purpose behind the processes.

It's important to enjoy a slow summer day with our families, friends and neighbors.
I'm reminded of a quote by Adlai Stevenson: “True patriotism is not manifested in short, frenzied bursts of emotion. It is the tranquil, steady dedication of a lifetime.”

There’s a form to help people in crisis. Most don’t know it exists.

An advance directive can lay out a preferred treatment plan before treatment for a mental health crisis is needed.

But if a patient does fill one out, there is no central database where they are stored, and the system relies on patients and family members to inform hospitals and first responders of their existence. Forms can get lost if a person is transferred between providers, and protocols for asking patients are inconsistent.

“I have been in Maine for over 20 years and I have never seen one,” said Dr. John Campbell, senior physician executive at Northern Light Acadia Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Bangor. “There is a general lack of awareness they exist.” 

Read this story by Alexa Foust of The Maine Monitor.

While The Maine Monitor does not place its content behind paywalls, some newsrooms we link to in this newsletter may. 

Immediately following their rejection of the MSAD 17 school budget, voters in Paris approved spending $10,000 to hire an investigator to look into the district's “performance and budget practices.” | Advertiser Democrat

Few public details have been shared about the legislatively-mandated strategic plan for the state's juvenile justice system. | Bangor Daily News

Half of Maine's emergency medical providers have yet to take a mandatory course on distributing Narcan, a medication used to treat overdoses. | Maine Public

An assisted living facility in Augusta with a history of violations has announced it will close in July. | Kennebec Journal

The fire chief in Dixfield expressed safety concerns with the practice of collecting donations via toll bridges. | Rumford Falls Times

Franklin County commissioners have approved a new set of bylaws for the county's opioid advisory committee. | Sun Journal

The High Peaks Alliance spearheaded efforts to repair an accessible trail system in Farmington after the region was impacted by severe flooding. | The Irregular

A record number of students graduated from Franklin County Adult Education. | Daily Bulldog

Our reporting on Western Maine is made possible in part with support from the Maine Community Foundation's Community Building Grant. 

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The Maine Monitor is a publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism. We believe news is a public good and keep our news free to access. We have no paywall and do not charge for our newsletters. If you value the reporting we do for Maine, please consider making a donation! We cannot do this reporting without your support.