Kelley Bouchard

Portland Press Herald

Kelley Bouchard writes about what’s happening in Maine and beyond, with a focus on South Portland, Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth and other communities in Cumberland County. Her interests include housing, immigration, human rights, history, aging issues, sustainability, the environment and the untold story. A Maine native and University of Maine graduate, she was a college intern for two summers at the former Lewiston Evening Journal. Before joining the staff of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram in 1998, she was a reporter for the Ipswich Chronicle, Beverly Times and Salem Evening News in Massachusetts. Favorite pastimes include gardening, cooking for family and friends, streaming foreign TV series and kayaking at camp.

Latest

Published
March 16, 2021

Nursing homes still wait for more vaccine, which could be coming

Maine public health officials move to provide vaccine to long-term care facilities left without allocations while having new residents who are unvaccinated.
Published
March 9, 2021

More women than men are getting vaccinated, and the gender gap could persist

The divide reflects priority groups targeted by the vaccine rollout in Maine and across the nation, and it could remain if men don’t change their health care habits.
Published
March 7, 2021

Nursing home gains threatened by lack of vaccine, unvaccinated workers

As COVID-19 cases ebb and long-term care facilities resume in-person visits, concern is growing that these are precarious gains without continued vaccine allocations and fully inoculated staffs.
Published
February 22, 2021

Abyssinian restoration group raised $375,000 after Black Lives Matter marches

The money will help restore the historic Black meetinghouse in Portland before its 200th anniversary, but more work must be done to make that happen.
Published
February 21, 2021

Maine eligibility guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine confuse, frustrate

Contradictions and exceptions within an evolving set of rollout rules trouble vaccine providers and those still waiting for their shots, but some in the field say they appreciate a degree of flexibility.
Published
February 15, 2021

Vaccine clinic brings hope, relief to elders on Peaks Island

Front-line immunization teams from Northern Light Health and MaineHealth administer shots to 130 senior residents of the community to fend off COVID-19.
Published
February 12, 2021

Maine bought over 2 million potentially counterfeit masks now subject to recall

About 161,000 of the possibly fake N95 respirators have been distributed to school nurses, health care facilities and state workers in Maine since November and are now part of a nationwide recall and replacement effort.
Published
February 9, 2021

Maine officials say they will take vaccine away from hospitals that violate guidelines

Gov. Janet Mills criticized MaineHealth on Tuesday for not following guidelines, calling it an ‘insult’ that the state’s largest health care organization gave doses to out-of-state contractors who came here to disrupt a union-organizing effort by nurses.
Published
February 8, 2021

MaineHealth defends decision to vaccinate administrative, remote staff despite state rules

But Maine Medical Center was wrong to vaccinate out-of-state consultants who were hired to help fight an effort to unionize nurses at the hospital, company officials say.
Published
February 7, 2021

Independent-living facilities left in the cold by COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Dropped suddenly from the federal pharmacy contract providing vaccination clinics to nursing homes, these senior retirement communities are trying to secure protection for an equally vulnerable population.