Moonbeam returns from work. Steward Jillian is standing on the boat. Island Health Services Director Sharon Daley is standing on the dock.
NORTHEAST HARBOR, ME — Moonbeam is the Mission’s interim boat while the Sunbeam V undergoes its routine major refit. To carry on their work on Maine unbridged islands, the Sunbeam crew relies on Moonbeam and Captain Storey King to carry them to the islands and back. Sometimes Sunbeam crew members go to work using other means of transportation such as island mail boats and airplanes.
In this photo, taken just days ago at Northeast Harbor, ME, Island Health Services Director Sharon Daley, RN (purple coat), and Steward Jillian (standing on Moonbeam), are returning from a island telemedicine trip.
L-R: Dan Tibert, Aaron Harvey, Frantzdy Simon, Brice Campbell
BELFAST, ME — Sunbeam V Captain Mike Johnson, while overseeing the Sunbeam‘s routine major refit at Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, ME, has been sending us photos and praise for the Front Street boat builders for their stellar work in repairing all aspects of the Sunbeam.
“These gentlemen,” writes Capt. Mike in his latest update, “are responsible for varnishing the interior panels and mahogany trim. I love the composition they suggested!”
The important work of telemedicine on Maine islands
By Maine Seacoast Mission • September 12, 2019
For Maine’s island residents, accessing even basic health care is a significant challenge. Trips to the mainland, when possible, are expensive and time consuming.
Since 1905, the Maine Seacoast Mission has played a vital role connecting residents of Maine’s most isolated unbridged islands with services: access to medical and dental care, spiritual support, education, and crisis services. The first of the Mission’s ships named Sunbeam, commissioned in 1912, carried books, supplies, and pastoral care to Maine islands, lighthouses, and isolated coastal communities of Hancock and Washington counties.
The Sunbeam also transported the very ill to hospitals, and provided basic health care and vaccinations.
Today, the Sunbeam V, with a Captain and four-person crew, carries on its work, combining Mission traditions with modern telemedicine.
BAR HARBOR, ME — The Mission boat, Sunbeam V, is never better loved, perhaps, than when island communities gather for companionship and a meal inside the Sunbeam salon. Sunbeam Steward Jillian always has delicious food to offer. Jillian’s meals, in turn, are often enhanced by homemade dishes brought aboard the Sunbeam by islanders.
With the Sunbeam V out of the water for a routine major refit, the Sunbeam crew chose to keep alive the gatherings for conversation and food in new places among the islands.
Island Health Services Director Sharon Daley, RN this week snapped some photos this week of “Taco night at the Parsonage on Isle au Haut” really capturing the spirit of celebration.
“Good to be together,” said Sharon. “Special times and people telling wonderful stories and memories and building more.”
BAR HARBOR, ME — This profile of the Captain and crew of Maine Seacoast Mission’s iconic ‘Sunbeam V’ is part of a short film by Jeff Dobbs, presented at the Mission’s Sunbeam Award Gala 2019. We present this video as the best introduction yet of the Sunbeam crew’s work among Maine unbridged island communities.
Maine Seacoast Mission President John Zavodny (wearing blue pants) speaks with Isle au Haut residents.
BAR HARBOR, ME — Maine Seacoast Mission President John Zavodny, Island Outreach Director and Chaplain Douglas Cornman, and Sunbeam Steward Jillian, traveled to Swan’s Island on Sunday, August 11, to meet with community members.
Lots of people showed up to meet John and share their thoughts on how Maine Seacoast Mission can continue it’s relationship with the island.
