Submitted by frigid_tit t3_10nwv9i in Maine
My cousin is going back home to Maine and bringing her disabled daughter. Her only worry is her daughter has quite a bit of medical issues and she wants to ensure her kid can get to the right doctors in aroostook county. Her daughter's conditions include intellectual disability, asthma, bipolar, severe myopia, chronic fatigue syndrome, hypothyroidism, gerd, rhotacism, poor balance, and hypodontia.
Short answer, no. I wouldn't live in Aroostook County if you have any health concerns you consider more complex than something a GP/PCP and pharmacist can handle. I'd probably stick to the Bangor area if possible.
No
This would really depend on how frequently medical intervention is needed. There are lots of people up here with serious conditions, but they generally travel to Bangor or Portland for the complicated care/procedures. If your cousin has lived in Aroostook County before she will be plenty familiar with the capabilities of local medicine.
Depends what part of the county. I'd suggest staying close to Bangor and have your medical needs taken care of there
As someone who lives in Bangor- your needs will not be taken care of here. Northern Light owns every practice in town and they are a joke. I waited months for a urology appointment only to have the urologist tell me to just ask my GP for painkillers. EMMC fucked up their billing so bad that 6 months worth of procedures and follow up appointments were sent to my insurance as one $35,000 line-item marked “etc.” I spent eighteen months being repeatedly sent to collections and having my credit score trashed because they can’t get their shit together. The entire medical complex has one phone number which will connect you to a random operator out of state somewhere, with no way to escalate or speak to anyone knowledgeable if something goes wrong, which it will.
tl;dr if you need urgent care, mental health services, or rely on insurance to help cover costs, Bangor’s not the place to be
Never had a problem. Lifelong resident of searsport until moving to caribou. Back surgeries. Kidney surgeries. Major car accident in a coma for 5 days and between Belfast and Bangor they saved my life. You got screwed for sure. Everyone up here goes to Bangor for anything severe.
I think they still use leeches and potions up there.
While I get your general point leeches are still medically used today, by major hospitals and are very very helpful for limb/digit reattachment.
potions and various concoctions are also very common in major hospitals.
It will be a big challenge. Maine has a dearth of providers for kids with intellectual disability, especially in rural areas. Some of her medical conditions, which I assume require specialist care, are almost certainly going to require trips to Portland or Boston for management. I would also worry about access to emergency care that is equipped to deal with a kid with these needs. Aside from all that, it may be hard to access services in the school system. I would think really hard about this move.
Maine as a whole has questionable medical care.
If you are planning to “just go into Bangor for medical care” as many are suggesting, please know that everyone in Northern / Western Maine has the same idea, and Bangor does not have the infrastructure. The wait time for appointments here is weeks to months. My daughter had a toothache and it took five weeks to see a dentist. The system is very much overwhelmed.
My daughter also has special needs at school. She was asked to leave pre-k due to behavioral issues and it took us six months before there was an opening at a specialized facility. I have family members insist to me “the schools have to accommodate her disability, it’s the law” but the law can’t force special education teachers to move here and work.
(Plz note that I am very aware that ‘I’m not in traffic, I am traffic’ and I’m not blaming outsiders or anything. Everyone deserves healthcare.)
If she absolutely needs to move here id highly recommend York county. If it were me, I'd stay where all her drs know and have treated her conditions are.
York or Cumberland for sure. If she stays in southern maine, there is a good network of schools that can help care for the child. They are The Margaret Murphy Centers for Children. Highly recommend.
No. Most people end up moving to Southern Maine or out of state if they have medical issues. Most major medical surgeries, treatments, etc. are done Bangor south. There are some mental health facilities in Aroostook, I think NMMC has the only pediatric psych ward in Aroostook, the next closest is Bangor. Aroostook is beautiful, senic, and a great place to live in a fairly safe environment, but it's a nightmare for medical care.
Maine Medical in Portland is the only level 1 trauma center in the state. This is the highest level of care a hospital can provide. If the child is requiring an admission to a pediatric intensive care unit(PICU), your local hospital is very likely to try and transfer you there. PICU beds have been tight all over the country, but frequently Maine Med is the last open PICU bed in New England. The hospital might not have room to accept the transfer. This could lead to potentially not getting the care the child needs from specialists rural hospitals do not have. If I had a medically complex child I would want to make sure I lived within driving distance from a large higher level of care center such as Maine Med in Portland.
I've found it difficult to find health care for my needs in southern maine. In proximity to brand new hospitals. I'm gonna imagine if you go past Bangor it's going to be really hard to get a medical team for all of those needs.
None of those things by themselves are super concerning but all together might be a bit much for providers in the county. How old is the daughter?
No.
I have Muscular Dystrophy and have to go to Boston from time to time. Luckily it's less than once a year but if I had to go often I would personally move to the Portland area for easier and quicker access to Mass General
Aroostic is to big and out of the way. If you lived in Presque Isle half your trip to Boston would be just trying to leave the state
Anyone I know with complex issues has had to go to Boston to get competent care. I love this state, and if your health needs are basic and uncomplicated, it's fine, but healthcare here is.. not good.
> rhotacism
That’s not a disease or a medical condition.
Pronouncing the letter R at all in pahts of Maine could be considered a disability
Seriously. The complexity is truly in the first three conditions, and depends on severity & current control, history of hospitalizations or not - before anyone could provide accurate advice about local PCP care. Most psych med mgmt is done remotely/telehealth by PMHNPs in the area.
The community and school supports for her ID would be of my biggest concern, personally.
As someone who had a friend who required trips to Boston for her own disabilities and illnesses...the more southern in the state you go, the better.
No.
No. My grandmother ended up having her body ravaged by cancer after several missed/failed diagnoses. She had been unwell for months. Eventually, they determined that she had had bladder cancer, but by that point, it had metastasized and spread throughout her body. She ultimately succumbed to lung cancer.
I think your cousin and her daughter would be better off closer to Bangor or Portland than anywhere in The County(TM).
The county has a few small tertiary hospitals and one “major” hospital at AR Gould. They can cover the basics of normal care, lab work, radiology and most emergencies. For any specialty care you’re going to be driving to Bangor. The county has few specialists due to the low population and pay for providers so most people refer to specialists down in Bangor for anything outside of general care. I would recommend your cousin contact the hospital closest to her and ensure she can establish a relationship with any needed providers prior to moving up there so she isn’t caught in a bind at the last minute.
Just to add as well, I’d they have pets you’re screwed on fixing decent vet care. Almost none of the very few clinics are taking new patients right now.
Absolutely not.
When my parents got older, lifelong County residents, had to move to the Bangor area for healthcare reasons. They were going to Bangor so often for care, it just made sense.
I have a buddy in the county who goes to the VA in Augusta because otherwise 🤷♀️
I'm a RN, and I'm also a complicated patient. I'd would (and have) lived in the County without any major concerns. If I did need an appt or procedure from a specialist that's not available there, I'd just drive down to Bangor. EMHS offers most specialties. And, of course, if it was an emergent situation they could also transfer your cousin's daughter to EMMC.
I have a lot of friends there and they all said it’s below average
Nope.
Aroostook and Washington counties both have really poor access to medical services. That's been true for a long time, but it's gotten significantly worse due to COVID-related burnout driving people out of medical professions.
Guygan t1_j6bchuw wrote
Like all extremely rural areas, there are no large hospitals and doctors are scarce. If I had a child with serious medical needs, Aroostook would be the last place in Maine I’d want to be.