About half all all Maine households rely on private well water, one of the highest rates in the country. But most wells here haven’t been tested for contaminants. Among those that have, one in 10 has elevated levels of arsenic, state toxicologist Andrew Smith told me last June. How likely is your well to contain arsenic? […]
When Temple Grandin was growing up in the 1940s, both her doctor and her father pushed for her to be institutionalized. Her mother, Eustacia Cutler, had other plans, teaching her daughter social skills and arranging speech therapy for her by age two. Now 68, Grandin went on to become one of the world’s foremost advocates for people […]
Eight percent of all babies born in Maine during the last fiscal year entered the world affected by drugs. That’s nearly 1,000 infants exposed to drugs in the womb, the highest number on record and a more than fivefold increase since 2006. This chart reflects instances where health care providers reported to the state that they had reasonable cause to […]
For the first time in Maine, parents can easily look up vaccination rates at their local elementary school. The Maine Center for Disease Control publicly released the data for the 2014-15 school year, revealing how many children were exempted from school-required vaccines — and for what reasons — in kindergarten and first-grade classes. The data also show […]
Maine knows all too well the potential dangers of narcotic painkillers. Many a journey down the dark path of addiction begins with a prescription for Vicodin, oxycodone or similar medications, though heroin has taken center stage in Maine’s battle against drug abuse. But could another drug hold answers to preventing overdose deaths? In Maine and a […]
With fall fast approaching, it’s time for kids to head back to school. As students congregate in classrooms, stories of summer adventures aren’t the only thing they’ll be sharing. Head lice will make their dreaded, itchy appearance again this year. But now, the annoying little pests are harder to kill. A new analysis finds Maine is among 25 […]
If anyone knows ticks in Maine, it’s the researchers at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute’s tick lab. They’ve been studying the eight-legged disease carriers for 26 years, learning about the deer tick’s emergence and rise to prevalence in our state. Now they’re sharing their expertise through a new website, TicksInMaine.com. “This new website is specific […]
Before today, the consumer review site Yelp was about the last place I’d look to find good medical care. Better known for restaurant and retail store critiques, Yelp’s been among several online repositories of physician and hospital reviews that relied solely on customer feedback — or as it’s known in health care, “patient satisfaction.” Customer reviews might cut […]
When Sarah Leavitt of Ellsworth took her family to an indoor trampoline park in Portland on Saturday, she never expected the trip would end five minutes later with a broken bone. In a Facebook post that has since garnered nearly 800 shares, Leavitt described how her 3-year-old son, Justin, broke his leg at Get Air, […]
A little over a month ago, I asked the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to release the names of schools, camps and other sites where infectious diseases broke out during the last school year. The agency had just announced a record number of chickenpox cases among schoolchildren, but declined to identify the schools involved. Based on […]
