Note: This is another in a series of articles on the history of Cary Medical Center. The hospital is celebrating its 100th Anniversary 1924–2024.
CARIBOU, Maine — When Mary Lou Brown graduated from Boston University and the Sargent College of Allied Health Sciences with a degree in physical therapy in 1960 she went from Maine to Michigan to work in the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. A “Mainer: at heart she soon returned to the state hoping to land a job at the Boston Children’s Hospital. There were no openings at the time and she took a position at the Hyde Home in Bath, a retired sea captain’s residence during the end of the polio epidemic.
At the same time, Clayton Harrington, then executive director of Cary Memorial Hospital, was looking to begin a physical therapy service at Cary. A physical therapist, Betty Anderson of Houlton was the County’s first physical therapist and had been working in Southern Aroostook.
It so happened that by chance, Mary Lou Brown’s mother Elizabeth Brown was secretary to the hospital’s board of directors. Learning that her daughter was a physical therapist, Harrington asked the secretary if she thought Mary Lou would come to Caribou to set up a physical therapy program. Mrs. Brown said he would have to go ask her, and so he did.
Traveling downstate to visit Brown, Harrington told of his plans to build the PT service at the hospital. After working out the details she agreed to come for one year. One year turned into a career. Brown established the first physical therapy program in Northern Aroostook County. Her department was located in the basement of Cary Memorial Hospital.
‘There was really nothing when I got here,” she said. “I started with one table in a small room with a little office and two whirlpool baths. We were kind of in the hallway and at the end was a huge mirror and people thought we were always looking into the mirror but it was something we used with our patients for balance, gait training and facial exercises.”
Once established at Cary Memorial Hospital, Brown became a “circuit rider” of sorts traveling to hospitals in Fort Kent, Fort Fairfield and the Aroostook Health Center in Mars Hill. She worked with the Van Buren Hospital and the Caribou Nursing and Rehab Center. Working under contract for the hospital Brown also established physical therapy home visits with the Aroostook Home Care Agency. Harrington had begun exploring the home care business and developed the physical therapy at home program.
“It was very gratifying to start up these programs,” said Brown. “The benefits of physical therapy were needed here and it was a very busy time for me, traveling from place to place.”
Brown also talked about her collaboration with Julie Adler, a respiratory therapist at Cary Medical Center. Adler, who established the first chronic obstructive pulmonary disease education program, built patient support groups and helped patients understand their disease.
“Julie was terrific,” said Brown. “We worked very well together creating programs that would bring patients to the physical therapy department for monitored exercise. Patients came in having difficulty breathing and we helped them learn how to manage their breathing and exercise on a stationary bike. When they left the hospital they were feeling a lot better and were very happy.”
Brown and Adler also established a program for children with asthma and helped them learn how to use inhalers, about trigger points and other elements of their asthma. They used group exercise to help the children learn how to manage their activity.
“I remember we had an exercise chute,” said Brown. “We would lay out the chute and the children would form a circle around and all lift up the parachute at the same time and go under. They had great fun while learning how they could exercise like other children and control their symptoms.”
While Brown was establishing physical therapy programs throughout the County, she also took the opportunity to travel abroad. In September 1974 after two years of planning and saving as well as working out details with the immigration service, Brown and her friend and Cary Registered Nurse Linda Willard set out for a year-long experience in Australia. The two visited New Zealand and settled in Adelaide, a city located in the south of Australia. The two worked for a time, Willard in a 600-bed hospital and Brown did home care work. They returned to Maine in July and to their jobs at Cary.
“Where else could you decide to leave your job for nearly a year and then return to your home community and pick up right where you left off?,” said Brown. “We were grateful to the hospital for giving us this opportunity.”
Brown said she worked a lot with stroke victims in her role at Cary. She remembers working with burn patients and patients with brain injuries. From her establishment of the physical therapy program at Cary she helped grow the rehab program at the hospital such that when she left her position at the hospital in 1988 some 12 staff were in the department. From the start of her work at Cary establishing the physical therapy program other services developed including, pulmonary rehabilitation, occupational therapy and speech therapy.
During her career Brown established programs that brought students to the hospital for clinical experience in physical therapy. She was also appointed to the Maine Board of Examiners for Physical Therapy. She worked closely with the athletic department at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Now 86 years old, Brown still resides in Caribou and is an active member of her church community.
Cary Medical Center is a 63-bed acute care hospital well known for its patient-centered services. We are a community of providers committed to excellence in healthcare and to improving the lives of those we serve. We are actively engaged in advancing the health and wellness needs of people in Aroostook County, including the unserved and underserved. Cary Medical Center and Pines Health Services are equal opportunity providers and employers.
