Eastern AHEC June 2024 Rural Health Immersion - Student Reflection: Pantelis
Healthy Acadia has served as Maine’s Eastern Area Health Education Center (AHEC) since 2023. Our AHEC service area includes Washington, Hancock, Waldo, and Knox counties.
Maine AHECs provide community-based clinical training experiences to health professions students; encourage Maine youth to pursue careers in the health professions; offer training and continuing education programs to practicing health professionals; and develop public health approaches to address current and emerging community needs.
As part of this program, Healthy Acadia and community partners work together to create rural health immersion opportunities for health professions students to learn more about rural and underserved communities, including Rural Health Immersions (RHI) for Care for the Underserved Pathways (CUP) AHEC Scholars. and community-based experiential learning opportunities for non-CUP scholars.
We will periodically publish guest blog posts from AHEC Scholars who have agreed to share their experience with the program.
Guest post contributed by Pantelis Antoniou, UNE COM Student. Pantelis participated in our June 2024 RHI and reflects on the experience.
As part of the AHEC CUP Scholars program, I had the opportunity to participate in a rural health immersion (RHI) that enhanced my understanding of community health in rural Maine and aligned with my commitment to sustainability and serving underserved communities. Thursday afternoon of our group’s RHI involved volunteering at Downeast Restorative Harvest and participating in a community dinner at Center Street Church in Machias, Maine.
Gardening at Downeast Restorative Harvest
After a morning visiting the Regional Medical Center of Lubec and touring Quoddy Head Lighthouse, our afternoon commenced at Downeast Restorative Harvest, an initiative dedicated to promoting sustainable agriculture and supplying fresh produce to the community.
Our AHEC group was welcomed by the garden’s coordinator along with several local volunteers who highlighted the initiative's role in providing access to fresh, local produce to the community, supplementing the local prison’s food source with fresh produce, and creating a project for locals to come together and work on as a community. to address diet-related illnesses prevalent in rural areas. I got to plant beans and remove weeds around the spring onions while others worked on setting up an automated irrigation system and planting other seeds.
Volunteering in the garden reminded me of my family’s agricultural background in small villages in northern Greece where people traditionally lived on what they could grow. With conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension at such high rates in the United States and other peer countries, this idea of incorporating physical activity and eating whole foods underscores the significant impact of lifestyle modifications and preventive measures in healthcare. Moreover, this experience drew a parallel between our efforts in the garden and healthcare: fostering growth, providing support, and nurturing resilience.
Community Dinner at Center Street Church
Following a productive afternoon in the garden, we proceeded to Center Street Church in Machias for the community dinner, a monthly event offering a meal and companionship. This evening’s theme was “breakfast for dinner.” Our responsibilities included assisting with cleanup after the event.
The community hall has several tables and chairs with silverware and tablecloths decorated with blooming purple lupines that were in season. In front of the kitchen, a long table stood with homemade dishes that community members had prepared. Roasted vegetables, scrambled eggs, and pancakes were complimented with local blueberry preserves and blueberry bread, a nod to Maine’s well-known blueberry production. It was particularly nice seeing familiar faces from our previous meetings earlier in the week, including Cheyenne Robinson-Bauman of the Downeast Rainbow Alliance. At the conclusion of the meal, we helped taking down tables and chairs in the dining area, washed dishes, took out trash, and swept the floors. This created a tangible connection between our morning efforts and the evening meal, representing a cycle of growth and nourishment. I believe the community dinner also illustrates the role that mutual aid can have in rural communities. Especially in smaller and more remote towns, mutual aid can help supplement resources that are not always available from government services or the private sector.
Reflection and Connection
Although I hope to practice clinically as a physician, having exposure to the reality of rural Maine and its population’s particular characteristics and needs help contextualize the way I will serve my patients. As I advance in the AHEC CUP Scholars program and my medical career, I will carry forward the experiences and lessons I gained from my RHI in Eastern Maine. The importance of sustainability, preventive care, and community support are principles that will guide my approach to healthcare. This experience has deepened my commitment to serving underserved communities and reinforced the notion that true health is cultivated through connection, compassion, and comprehensive care.