This is the content of the Boothbay Region Health Center E-News sent out June 11, 2019 to those of you who have signed up to receive them. (If you’d like to be added to our email list, pls. email patricia.seybold@boothbayhealthcare.org).

New Summer Hours:
Monday thru Friday 8:30 to 4:30
Saturday: 10-4
Sunday: 11-3
185 Townsend Ave. “The Meadow Mall”
Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538
(207) 633-1075

How to have a Tick-Free Summer

Free Tick Talk on Friday

There will be a free presentation on How to Have a Tick-Free Summer and what to do if you DO get a tick bite on Friday, June 14th at 2 pm at the Community Center in the Meadow Mall, Boothbay Harbor. The speaker will be Paula Jackson-Jones.

Paula is a member of the Board of the Boothbay Region Health Center and President of Midcoast Lyme Disease Support & Education. She also serves as co-chair of the Access to Care Services and Patient Support subcommittee of the Federal Health & Human Services Tick-borne Disease Working Group. Paula is also the Maine-partner of the national Lyme Disease Association, a member of Maine’s CDC Vector-borne Workgroup, and active in Maine’s Lyme legislation and helping our Congressional Representatives and Senators push through legislation on the Federal level.

Paula will talk about the current epidemic of tick-borne diseases in Mid-Coast Maine, which diseases are most prevalent, and why they are so difficult to diagnose correctly. She will explain how to protect yourself and why it is SO vital not to take shortcuts.

If you do find a tick that has begun feasting on you, learn what steps to take:

1. Remove the tick carefully and properly.
2. Save it in a sealed plastic bag.
3. Send it off to be tested to find out what disease(s) you may have been exposed to.
4. Come in to start a course of preventive treatment

If you do have an embedded tick, come get treated right away. Don’t risk letting the infection take hold. Once you know what bacteria or virus your tick carried, you can stop treatment (if there were no diseases), or add additional treatments for specific diseases/co-infections. If you find a bite but don’t have the tick, or think you’ve been exposed, get a blood test from a lab that specializes in tick-borne diseases. The Boothbay Region Health Center uses two such labs.

Or, if you find yourself with any of the symptoms of Lyme (or the other tick-borne diseases) come in for a specialized blood test. These are not diseases you want to carry around–they become quite debilitating and are very difficult to diagnose by non Lyme-literate medical providers. The good news is that the Boothbay Region Health Center now has Lyme-literate medical providers who can diagnose and treat tick-borne diseases right here. And, the Health Center accepts most health insurance.

Welcome Jennie!

We welcome Jennie McNeil, Tick-borne Disease Specialist and Mental Health professional. Jennie has joined the Boothbay Region Health Center staff as of mid-May. She is currently working Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Jennie McNeilJennie has 25 years of experience in health care. She treats patients with tick-borne diseases, and other chronic conditions as well as patients of all ages with mental and behavioral health challenges. She is trained in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. She is a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, a Certified Reiki Master Teacher, a Certified Pranayama & Meditation teacher, and a member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS). She received her Bachelors’ degree in Nursing from the University of Southern Maine in 1996.

By adding Jennie McNeil to our staff, we are able to be much more Lyme-Literate. All of our providers are now following the diagnostic and treatment protocols that Jennie recommends for tick-borne diseases, so if you have a new tick bite, you can come to any of our providers: Dr. Steve Cook, Dr. Chip Teel, or Family Nurse Practitioners Brett Auclaire, Susan Lord, or Becky Traquair for new diagnosis, lab work, and appropriate treatment. But, if you are suffering from chronic Lyme, and/or Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, or any other tick-borne co-infection, or you feel lousy and want to rule out a tick-borne disease, you may want to make an appointment to see Jennie.

If you are suffering from anxiety, depression, or other mental health concerns, you can book an appointment with Jennie as well. We are pleased to be able to offer a mental health medical professional on the Boothbay peninsula.

We Need Volunteers!

This summer we want to educate everyone in the Boothbay Region (and beyond) about tick-borne diseases–what they are, why they are so concerning, and what you can do about them.

We plan to have an educational table at the Craft Fairs on the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays this summer, and are hoping to do the same at the Thursday Farmers’ Market. But, in order to do this kind of outreach to our community, we need more person-power. So, if you are able and willing to “man” the table and hand out literature for a couple of hours, we could sure use you. We’ll have a shaded tent and comfortable chairs. If you’d like to help and want to learn more, please email board member, Liz Lussier at Elizabeth.Lussier@boothbayhealthcare.org.

You might also consider coming to the Paula Jackson-Jones’ Tick Talk on Friday at 2 pm to learn more. THANK YOU!!!

 

The good news is that we are growing! The bad news is that we are still way under-funded by the members of the community we serve. Please consider supporting YOUR patient-run, independent, Community Health Center today.

HELP US HELP YOU by
Sending a generous check to:
Boothbay Region Health Center
185 Townsend Ave., Suite R
Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538
or
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Call 633-1075 with your credit card

THANK YOU!!!