Welcome back, Julie Daigle!
Please join us in welcoming back Julie Daigle as a full-time member of the Healthy Acadia team!
Julie join our team back in 2018 as Tobacco Prevention and Let's Go! 5210 Program Coordinator in Hancock County. She took a few years’ hiatus staying on as a mindfulness program consultant. We’re thrilled that she has returned to Healthy Acadia’s tobacco use prevention team, and to also assist with development efforts, building on her skills gained over years of paid and volunteer work in these organizations.
Julie graduated from the University of Maine at Fort Kent, with a focus on environmental science and outdoor recreation, including a senior capstone project genotyping E. coli in a local watershed and correlating its presence with land use; an internship helping to administer a wells and septic project in southern Aroostook County; a video project promoting a new community trail; and a construction project to prevent beaver-related damage to a culvert, my first public health projects.
She went on to monitor non-point source pollution for municipal airports across the state and eventually found her way to community health and prevention, first in Aroostook County and later in Hancock and Washington counties, focusing on physical activity promotion/obesity prevention, tobacco use prevention, and substance use prevention, and helping to support and implement Healthy Acadia's mindfulness program.
During the first couple of years of the pandemic, Julie helped to facilitate the continued operations of three public health districts at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Julie, what prompted you to join the Healthy Acadia team?
Getting to see, everyday, the positive impacts of my efforts in the lives of my friends, family, and neighbors and knowing that I am contributing directly to health improvements my community is a powerful professional motivator for me. Healthy Acadia also has a wonderful team of employees and volunteers that makes working here fun and productive.
What inspires you most about Healthy Acadia's work?
Healthy Acadia has an invested and impressive board supporting its staff; an inclusive and compassionate organizational culture; a knowledgeable and competent leadership team; staff members who are passionate and driven to make a difference in their communities; and satisfying recognition from both Hancock County communities and state-wide organizations about the work we do and the positive impacts we have.
What inspires you on a personal level?
I am thrilled to be part of an organization that supports such powerfully positive food security work in our communities; food and farming is one of my other public health-related passions. Although I don’t work on food-related initiatives for Healthy Acadia, I'm happy to support the food systems work being done in this region by volunteering with Green Ellsworth as the Food and Farming Subcommittee chair and as a recent appointee to the statewide Maine Farm-to-Institution Leadership Team. I am also a long-time supporter of transportation alternatives and physical activity promotion, working with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine whenever possible, and getting outside to enjoy Maine's outstanding four-season recreational opportunities.
What is your favorite thing to do, or place to be, in Maine, and why?
I have completely fallen in love with coastal Maine over the last six years or so. The weather is mild for Maine; our communities are vibrant and creative; there is an interesting mix of folks who have been here for generations and new residents; the ocean and the hills are a recreational dream; and there is an urgency to climate change mitigation in a coastal area that is driving some innovative municipal and non-profit planning.
After sailing on a windjammer for a couple of summers in the 90s, I recently bought a sailboat and am looking forward to sailing around Mount Desert Island, into Ellsworth's harbor, and among Maine's many island and coastal/island communities next summer!
Contact Julie by email at julie@healthyacadia.org.