Jackie Farwell
Health Editor
Jackie Farwell of Gorham is health care editor for the Bangor Daily News. Farwell began her career with the BDN a decade ago, leaving in 2006 for a job with The Associated Press in New York. She most recently was employed by Mainebiz. In addition to health care, Farwell covered energy, real estate development, banking and finance for Mainebiz. Working from Portland, Farwell will cover both health care finances and health issues that directly affect Maine residents. Outside of her workday, Farwell is a fitness enthusiast who hikes, cross-country skis and rides horses. She completed her first 5K road race this summer.Biddeford doctor reprimanded over narcotics prescription practices
BIDDEFORD, Maine — A physician affiliated with Southern Maine Medical Center has been reprimanded by state licensing officials in the wake of a patient’s apparent overdose death. Stephen H. Doane, a Biddeford internist and geriatrician, was ordered by the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine to stop prescribing controlled drugs ...
Legislature approves bill to crack down on bullying in schools
AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill that toughens Maine’s stance on bullying in schools won legislative approval this week after months of revisions. The measure, LD 1237, provides educators and administrators with a clear definition of bullying, explicitly forbids bullying behavior, offers schools alternative discipline strategies, and outlines prevention policies and ...
Maine mothers rally against chemicals in children’s products
AUGUSTA, Maine — When Megan Rice learned that her daughter’s plastic sippy cups contained an industrial chemical called bisphenol-A, she tossed them in the trash. Now, five years later, Rice says she and many other moms struggle to buy food, toys and other products free of potentially dangerous chemicals. Some ...
Portland mayor: DHHS budget cuts are ‘penny wise, pound foolish’
PORTLAND, Maine — Cutting funding for programs that promote health and prevent disease to balance the state’s books will only cost Maine more in the long run, Portland Mayor Michael Brennan said Monday. Brennan spoke out a day before lawmakers are set to reconvene in Augusta to consider a plan ...
Former ‘Biggest Loser’ contestant to speak in Bangor
BANGOR, Maine — Sherry Johnston, a former contestant on NBC’s hit reality show “The Biggest Loser,” garnered national attention for losing weight. Now, she’s using her turn in the spotlight to talk about losing sleep. Johnston, a Knoxville, Tenn., widow who shed 99 pounds on season nine of the series, ...
Temple Grandin to speak on autism at sold-out Portland event
PORTLAND, Maine — Temple Grandin, one of the country’s most well-known autism advocates, will speak to a sold-out crowd Sunday at the University of Southern Maine. Grandin, 64, an animal science professor who has autism, is known for promoting more humane treatment of livestock at ranches and slaughterhouses. She was ...
Scarborough health practice improves care with electronic records
SCARBOROUGH, Maine — Dr. Barbara Slager recently received a panicked telephone call from one of her patients. The pregnant woman had undergone an ultrasound at a Portland clinic that showed that her baby wasn’t growing normally. The frantic patient called Slager, her obstetrician at Coastal Women’s Healthcare in Scarborough, who ...
POLL QUESTION
13.5% of Maine adults skipped medical care because they couldn’t afford it, report finds
An estimated 109,000 Maine adults went without medical care in 2010 because they couldn’t afford it, according to a new study. Hit hardest were the uninsured, who were far more likely to report having unmet health care needs because of the cost, according to the study released this week by ...
Anti-bullying event to screen film documenting teen’s suicide
PORTLAND, Maine — A documentary film about the suicide of a bullied teenage girl will be screened on Friday as part of a two-day event against bullying. “Rats and Bullies” tells the story of 14-year-old Dawn-Marie Wesley, a British Columbia girl who hanged herself in 2000 after being bullied by ...
Eastern Maine Medical Center to sell dialysis clinics to national chain
BANGOR, Maine — Eastern Maine Medical Center plans to sell its three outpatient dialysis clinics to one of the country’s largest for-profit dialysis companies. The hospital has signed a letter of intent with Colorado-based DaVita Inc. to transfer ownership of its kidney dialysis clinics in Bangor, Ellsworth and Lincoln, EMMC ...
DHHS advocate fears crisis among adults who need care
AUGUSTA, Maine — A state advocate is warning that overspending by the Department of Health and Human Services is leaving people with intellectual disabilities no place to turn in a crisis. A DHHS account that pays for residential services for adults with intellectual disabilities and autism is projected to run ...
VIDEO
Methadone clinics feeling pain of state budget cuts
Jessica Payne got hooked on drugs at just 16 years old. A prescription for Percocet to treat her chronic pain and a birth defect in her hands opened the door to what would stretch into more than a decade of addiction. “I would do whatever was put in front of ...
St. Joseph named one of nation’s 100 best hospitals
Bangor, Maine — St. Joseph Hospital has been named one of the country’s 100 best hospitals in a new independent ranking. The annual Thomson Reuters Top 100 Hospitals study released this week recognized St. Joseph as one of 20 medium-sized community hospitals providing quality and cost-efficient care. St. Joseph was ...
Hermon couple moves autistic son into new home after troubles with DHHS
BANGOR, Maine — A Hermon couple who clashed with the state over moving their autistic son into an assisted-living facility finally has an empty nest. Gary and Cindy Burke spent this week lugging boxes to The Getchell Agency in Bangor, their 24-year-old son Casey’s new home. The move marks the ...
LifeFlight raising money to add airplane to its fleet of helicopters
LifeFlight of Maine is raising money to add an airplane to its fleet of two helicopters in response to growing demand for air ambulance services. Adding a third aircraft is expected to allow the statewide service to treat up to 300 more patients a year by freeing up the maxed-out ...
UMaine climate researchers develop Web tool to test air quality by community
ORONO, Maine — A new interactive Web tool developed by climate researchers at the University of Maine allows users to punch in a ZIP code to learn about their neighborhood’s air quality. Called 10Green, the free tool spits out a score for a given location based on 10 air quality ...
VIDEO
Family struggles to find home for son with autism
HERMON, Maine — Gary and Cindy Burke remember the moment last summer when they realized it no longer was safe to live with their son. Casey Burke, diagnosed with autism as a young boy, had grown into a 200-pound man who increasingly erupted into violent outbursts. Last July, he returned ...
Another 5,300 mistakenly left eligible for MaineCare benefits, report says
AUGUSTA, Maine — As officials work to nail down how much a Medicaid computer error will cost the state, the problem’s potential scope has widened. The Department of Health and Human Services originally estimated that the error led the state’s Medicaid program, known as MaineCare, to continue paying medical bills ...
VIDEO
Nation’s top technology official advocates putting health data in patients’ hands
BANGOR, Maine — It’s not often that a senior White House official uses the word “awesomeness” in a speech, let alone to describe government health data, but U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park believes in the power of information. During an energetic presentation Tuesday at the Spectacular Event Center, Park ...
Modern moms spend two more hours giving birth than women of the 1960s
Today’s typical mother spends about two hours longer in labor than a woman who gave birth in the 1960s, a national study has found. Modern moms are also older, heavier and more likely to encounter epidurals and cesarean sections than pregnant women of 50 years ago, according to researchers at ...
Glenburn art teacher killed in Friday morning collision in Bangor
Harvard student asked to leave bar for ‘bad behavior,’ not drunkenness
LePage blasts teachers union for endorsing same-sex marriage question
Reporting crime
A people’s revolt in Bar Harbor
Old Town football coach steps down
Perakslis helps UMaine beat Albany; Binghamton next in America East tournament
Orono baseball shuts out archrival Old Town for ninth straight victory
Stony Brook knocks out UMaine to win America East tournament
Aroostook businessman expands company out of home with hit mobile app 7 Little Words
Former CEO of MaineToday Media Richard Connor sued over $250,000 in loans
Small idea launches major project in Hampden
Diversity predicts export success, MIT professor tells Maine audience
New, old methods combine to deter scrap metal thefts in Aroostook
Gary Allan talks with the BDN leading up to Bangor concert
Out of the ashes, Central Street’s garden grows
Mid Coast Actor’s Studio provides new forum for classic plays
Signs lead artist to opportunity
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