BANGOR, Maine — The Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center Auxiliary is planning its 16th Kitchen Tour, which will be held virtually this year so viewers can see it from the comfort of home.
The auxiliary has partnered with WABI and NextHome Experience to showcase six different kitchens with unique features, designs and quality craftsmanship.
All proceeds from the 2021 Kitchen Tour will support the auxiliary’s pledge to support the purchase of Miracle-2, a new neonatal transport ambulance. The team currently transports approximately 120 of the most vulnerable babies annually who need specialized care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at EMMC. Many of those babies come from northern Maine.
“In the last year alone at least 40 sick or premature newborns from Aroostook County hospitals were transported to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center by the NICU/Lifeflight of Maine Neonatal Transport Team,” said Dr. Jay Kerecman, neonatologist and medical director of EMMC’s NICU transport team.
“One-third of these missions required specialized ambulance transport due to weather conditions or other factors. The Miracle ambulance units are essential for the delivery of rapid, expert neonatal intensive care to babies in Aroostook County and across wide reaches of the state,” Kerecman said.
“We have a significant number of NICU responses in Aroostook County as there is no NICU capability up in God’s country,” Carl Zenk, clinical base manager of LifeFlight of Maine and Northern Light Medical Transport, said.
Zenk said from Jan. 1, 2019, to now, 37 NICU transports were facilitated at A.R. Gould Hospital in Presque Isle, 35 from Cary Medical Center in Caribou, 24 from Houlton Regional Hospital and nine from Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent.
The homes on the tour showcase the work of different kitchen designers and contractors in the area. An addition to this years’ tour will be an online Thanksgiving cooking class. Chef Cathy Speronis, owner of A Tasty Adventure, will guide viewers in the preparation of two holiday dishes using locally sourced ingredients.
Tickets are available by calling 207-973-5055 or at northernlighthealth.org/emmcauxiliary. VIP tickets are $50 per person and include links for the tour and the cooking class, and a benefit bag for the first 150 tickets sold. General admission tickets are $25 per household and include the tour link. Tickets for the cooking class only are $30 per household.
