SOUTHWEST HARBOR — Many residents of Mount Desert Island are turning to petitions to try to make sure that their voices are heard on two different issues that are both proving frustrating for them.
One petition deals with the closure of a local hospital clinic. The other deals with the continuing closure of the Seawall Road, which sustained major damage during the winter storms.
“This was a brutal … brutal closing with no warning and input,” Susan Buell said about the hospital clinic closing. Her comments came during the Southwest Harbor Select Board meeting last week.
“Sixteen hundred patients, where do they think everyone’s gonna go?” she asked. “It’s created so much anguish.”
Her comments were echoed by many attending.
In early May, Northern Light Health announced that it would close the primary care practice on Aug. 30, intending to fold its operations with another practice in Ellsworth. That continuing practice is located on Resort Way. The Southwest Harbor clinic has nine employees, who will be offered roles in Ellsworth and Blue Hill.
This Wednesday, Mount Desert Island Hospital will host a meeting for a question and answer session about the hospital’s “commitment to expanding access in the region.”
Mount Desert Island Hospital and Northern Light are not the same hospital system.
The Mount Desert Island Hospital forum will be on June 5 at 4 p.m at the Southwest Harbor Public Library.
The clinic takes care of 1,600 patients. Those patients will now have to travel to different locations to receive medical care.
A May 2, 2024 article by the Mount Desert Islander writes, “Northern Light owns the building in town and will be looking to eventually sell it.”
This was a cause for concern for some members of the Select Board.
Many believe that the land was sold for $1 to have a clinic on the location for the express purpose of a medical clinic and has restrictive covenants in place that limits what it can be used for. Now, the town is researching deeds and contracts that are from the 1960s to determine what it can do.
People attending the Select Board meeting called the situation upsetting and sought accountability from Northern Light, which had said that the closure was due to staffing challenges and the high costs to improve the facility and maintain it.
The clinic began in August 1961. A gift of $50,000 from Eleanor Widener Dixon helped to support four sub-clinics of what was then called Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in 1960. Maine Coast Memorial Hospital was folded into the system that’s now Northern Light in the 2010s and then rebranded to Northern Light Memorial Hospital in 2018.
On the subject of the Seawall Road closure, the Maine DOT has scheduled a public meeting for the towns of Tremont and Southwest Harbor on Thursday, June 27 at 6 p.m. in the Tremont Town Office.
The Seawall Road links Southwest Harbor to the Bass Harbor Head lighthouse, popular trails (Wonderland and Ship Harbor), and Acadia National Park’s Seawall campground and picnic area. To get to those areas, people must now detour through Tremont, which can take 25 minutes or more.
Charlotte Gill has begun a “Save Seawall” petition, which has gathered approximately 360 signatures in 13 hours. She began the petition June 3.
The petition states that since 1761, Seawall was “one of the most beloved destinations of both locals and visitors from near and far. It is a quintessential part of Mt. Desert Island, as well as the very essence of those who live here. It is not just a thru way, but indeed, a way of life….”
This petition asks for the road to be reopened.
“The issues its closure has caused are abundant. Instead of listing all of them on this forum, this petition simply requests that all, (both residents and visitors), who have interest in seeing this roadway returned to its former status, attach our names to its body, so our voices may be heard,” Gill, who is a local business owner and Southwest Harbor resident, wrote.
“Perhaps, then they can reach the ears of not only the Maine Department of Transportation, as well as Acadia National Park administrators, but also the Army Corp of Engineers, that they then can work in tandem with not only each other, but also all who love it so dearly, that we may once again return to the quiet enjoyment that has existed long before any of us were here,” it continues.
The road was one of many that washed out in the January storms that caused damage throughout Mount Desert Island. In February, the park issued a permit to Maine DOT to rebuild the road. That permit also allowed the road’s footprint to be widened. The road washed out again. It has not been widened or rebuilt. The permit still stands, park officials said last week. At an Acadia National Park advisory meeting on Monday, Superintendent Kevin Schneider reiterated that same message.
“It provides really important access to our visitors,” Schneider said. It also contains the water, electric and data lines for the campground, which is up and running, and is part of Island Explorer shuttle routes.
“We’re open to considering other alternatives,” he said about the road’s reconstruction. Those alternatives include raising the road. “It’s a difficult situation,” he said, and added that it’s also an example of how climate change impacts the island.
“This isn’t something new. I’ve seen storms beat the hell out of it for half a century,” said Carl Brooks. “It’s been the same story.”
It should have been dealt with decades ago, he said.
This story was originally published by The Bar Harbor Story. To receive regular coverage from the Bar Harbor Story, sign up for a free subscription here.
