Reducing environmental exposures for Mainers throughout their lifetimes.
Island Institute and Maine Seacoast Mission have committed to helping us reach people on Maine’s unbridged islands to test their drinking water and help with decisions about the next steps necessary to mitigate contamination. Initial conversations with people on several islands about the project have revealed broad interest in well water testing. Maine Seacoast Mission’s Director of Island Services, Douglas Cornman, is working with us to identify a strategy for communication, island visits, and water sample collection. Island Institute has awarded us an Island Institute Fellow over the next two years to help facilitate this effort: Morgan Karns, a recent graduate of Virginia Tech. The Maine Seacoast Mission will work closely with our Island Institute Fellow to ensure she connects with each island community starting in Fall 2023. We have recently received another five years of support from the NIH SEPA program for our school-based project, and our Island Institute Fellow will also forge intergenerational relationships between island school children and their elders to ensure healthy drinking water for all island communities. The project will pilot PFAS testing in communities with identified risks. Learn more about project expansion on our PFAS in drinking water page.
Participating Maine Islands
Partners
Island Institute works to sustain Maine‘s island and coastal communities. The Island Fellows program is one way that Island Institute is helping these communities. Fellows apply their skills to island projects while gaining experience in community outreach.
Since 1905, the Mission has been connecting people to their strengths by offering healthcare, education, food, shelter, and spiritual support.
Dartmouth Trace Element Analysis Core
The Dartmouth Trace Element Analysis Core has been an active partner with the Healthy Water, Healthy Aging project. They specialize in low-level trace metal analysis and speciation in environmental and biological samples.
Project Leadership
Jane E. Disney, Ph.D.
Director, Community Environmental Health Laboratory
MDI Biological Laboratory
Morgan Karns
Island Institute Fellow
Island Institute, MDI Biological Laboratory
Ramsey Steiner
Research Scientist, Dartmouth Trace Element Analysis Core
Dartmouth College
Douglas Cornman
Director of Island Services
Maine Seacoast Mission