MMHP’s biggest strength is our people, we strive to be an organization that lives its values. The experiences, opinions and contributions of all involved oblige us to be accountable to each other and creative in meeting farmworkers’ needs. Collaborating doesn’t stop at meetings and clinics but goes to how we connect and support each other as colleagues. Read more about our dedicated staff.
Staff Members
Barbara Ginley, MPH Executive Director Barbara received her B.A. in English/Art History from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine and went on to receive her Masters in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As Executive Director of MMHP since 2000, Barbara has directed Maine’s statewide primary care program for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Barbara’s keen eye for the big picture and her confidence in the diverse strengths of our staff allow MMHP to meet the evolving needs of our patients, despite the size of our organization. Barbara likes to grow things, from peonies to kale to her school-aged sons. When not tethered to work, she opts for being outdoors.
Paula Nicholas, Operations Coordinator She, who makes things happen. Paula is proud to say that she’s been here “since the beginning” and has played a part in helping the program reach its current level of success. Her position at MMHP is diverse and challenging but “coming to work every day and knowing that the work you do is making a big difference in someone’s life” has kept her here for over 20 years. She and her husband Mike have lived in the Augusta area all their lives, where they raised their three children. They now have six grandchildren. In the next few years, they look forward to taking off to tour the country in their camper.
Cheryl Seymour, MD Medical Director Cheryl Seymour has served as medical director for MMHP since 2009. She first joined us in 2004, as a volunteer. She is a board certified family physician whose regular practice includes hospital and outpatient medicine, obstetrics and teaching as faculty of the Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency in Augusta. Cheryl especially enjoys her work at MMHP because of the opportunity to care for a diverse and underserved population and to learn from such a dedicated team of co-workers. She shares this experience with the many medical students and residents who have volunteered at our clinics. In her role, Cheryl provides direct care to patients and coordinates quality and clinical initiatives. Cheryl’s interests outside of medicine include cooking and baking, gardening, hiking and spending time with her family. She lives in Augusta with her partner and two daughters.
Diane Hastings, Financial Manager Diane’s attention to detail and aptitude for numbers is a major reason MMHP is able to envision its future, meet its goals efficiently and stay on track. But don’t think Diane’s all business. She delivers her dose of Brooklyn sass and quirky humor when you least expect it, “accounting” for why this program is such a comfortable place to work. Diane loves animals and cares for Delilah (the golden retriever), Taz and Theo (the two kitties) and is currently fostering 5 kittens…fun!
Liz Charles, Enabling Services Coordinator Liz has been working with MMHP since 2009. She coordinates the outreach services of our program and provides case management. She loves that her work allows her to interact with people from different countries and cultures. Liz says, “I learn a lot from the patients that I work with and enjoy exploring small towns and rural areas of my home state of Maine. My first moose sighting ever was on a trip for MMHP!”
LuzMarina Serrano, Camp Health Aid Coordinator ¡Dinámicas!!! Now that is a word that gets Luz excited about learning and conducting groups with her team of Camp Health Aides. LuzMarina Serrano is the Camp Heath Aide Coordinator for MMHP. In this role, she works with various farmworkers from different countries. From this program, leaders emerge, helping to improve the health of their community. This makes Luz want to jump with joy!
Olga Alicea, LCSW, CADC Behavioral Health Specialist (Consejera de Bienestar) Olga joined MMHP in 2009 to help launch the introduction of behavioral/mental health services to our primary care. She attends to our patients’ sense of well-being by providing individual counseling and group education with respect and a willingness to learn from their personal journeys–and often with good humor. Olga also supports staff as they engage and help patients make the behavioral changes necessary in bringing balance to their lives. As a proud, strong Puerto-Rican woman, humbled by life’s many surprises and still able to laugh about it, Olga feels well-equipped for her work.
Joe Mortland, Case Manager- Aroostook County Joe has been with MMHP since 2003. His role is that of medical interpreter, case manager, and outreach worker to over three hundred migrant workers in broccoli, potatoes, and forestry. He previously ministered to the deaf populations of Mexico and Uruguay for seventeen years before coming to Maine. Joe is also the senior pastor of the New Life Baptist Church in Presque Isle. He is happily married to his wife, Leilani. They have ten children, five of whom are still at home. Through his experience with MMHP, Joe has become interested in the medical field and is currently taking courses at NMCC to help him better serve the Aroostook Hispanic migrant population. His great desire is just to be left alone up in the County to work his own brand of magic as the famous Don Jose.
Edith Flores, Case Manager- Washington County Originally from San Luis Potosi, Mexico and the daughter of a migrant family, Edith has the experience to reach into her community and be trusted. Her family used to travel from Florida to Arkansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Texas, Michigan and of course Maine. She laughs when she thinks of her parents and 6 siblings all piled in one truck, but she knows first-hand the many needs of families far from home. She has worked with MMHP since 2002, originally as a medical assistant and currently as an outreach worker.
Kamis Ley, Haitian-Creole Case Manager Known as “Miss Kami” by many of the patients she serves, Kamis is the Haitian Outreach Worker for MMHP. Kamis received much of her agricultural understanding in the field, on the family farm in western Pennsylvania. She attended Gettysburg College where she received her BA in German. She joined the Peace Corps, and shortly after graduation she left to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Haiti. She spent almost three years in Haiti with the Peace Corps as a Small Animal Husbandry Volunteer. Although, Kamis is a Pennsylvania native, she now lives in Maine with her husband and two small children. She has been with MMHP since 2008.
Board of Directors
Diana L. Prescott Diana Prescott taught Spanish grammar in summer migrant school in rural Indiana. She completed her B.A. in Psychology and Spanish at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana and an MA and PhD in psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She was trained under an NIMH grant in rural mental health, obtaining a major in clinical psychology and minors in developmental and community psychology. Diana completed a predoctoral internship at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She has been employed at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Evansville, Indiana and at The Acadia Hospital in Bangor, Maine. Diana has developed a rural health consulting practice (Hampden Psychological Consultation, PLLC), evaluating and treating women and children. Diana represents the Maine Psychological Association (MePA) as APA Council representative and Federal Advocacy Coordinator (FAC). She serves as the Rural Health Coordinator for Maine and on the APA Committee on Rural Health.
Gordon Kulberg Gordon Kulberg earned a B.S. in Psychology from Tufts, an M.S. in Industrial Psychology from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Vanderbilt University. He taught for four years at Lafayette College before joining the Psychology Department at UMaine to develop the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. At UMaine he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, supervised clinical practicum, was Chair of twenty Doctoral Dissertation Committees. He was Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences for five years, Psychology Department Chair for five years, Communication Disorders Department Chair for two years and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for one year. He retired in August 2003 and on two occasions returned for another year as Interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Off campus, at various times and places, he was on the Governors Advisory Committee on Mental Health, the Maine State Parole Board, State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, a Member of the Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers Health Council (1991-present), State of Maine Commissioner of Education Advisory Committee on School Psychological Service Providers, the Maine Migrant Health Program formation committee (2000) and Board Member ever since and Chair (xxxx to 2009).
Jeremy Gould Jeremy Gould has vast experience in developmental banking, having worked with the Inter-American Development Bank for over thirty three years. During this time he had various positions in the operative sector of the bank, starting a a junior professional. Subsequently, he worked as an operation officer and country coordinator for various countries at the bank’s headquarters in Washington DC. For three years he served as the adviser to the Executive Vice President of the Bank. He also served as the operational adviser to the Manager of the Andean and Caribbean Region in the operations department. He was assigned as the Banks Country Representative in Barbados and Panama, for four years in each post. Jeremy spent most of childhood growing up in various countries in Latin American, he is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and is currently studying Italian. Jeremy studied at Nasson College and the University of Vienna and earned his BA from the School of International Service at American University in Washington DC. He did graduate work at American University and Johns Hopkins University, in business, finance, and economics.
Jesse Stewart Jesse Stewart grew up in Harrington, Maine. After attending college in Maine, Jesse spent nearly four years in El Salvador where he coordinated “sister city” relationships between Salvadoran communities and cities around the United States. Most recently, he spent the summer in Mexico working at a legal services organization dedicated to improving the working conditions of Mexican migrant workers in the United States. Jesse currently lives in Portland, where he is a second-year student at the University of Maine School of Law.
Jonathan Wood Jonathan moved to Maine with his wife Robin and 4 children in 2002. Though they now have an empty nest, he and Robin plan on staying in Maine for the foreseeable future. Jonathan is the Medical Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at EMMC in Bangor. In addition, he oversees EMMC’s Pediatric Inpatient Physician and the Pediatric Sedation services. Jonathan’s connection to agriculture is primarily through his experience on his family’s apple farm in New Hampshire. His brother continues with the commercial apple and cider operation and employs Jamaican migrant workers.
Linda Silka Linda Silka, PhD, directs UMaine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and is a professor in the School of Economics. Prior to moving to the University of Maine, Dr. Silka was a faculty member for three decades at the University of Massachusetts Lowell where she directed the Center for Family, Work, Community and served as the Special Assistant to the UML Provost for Community Outreach and Partnerships. A social and community psychologist by training, much of her work has focused on building community-university research partnerships. Recent research partnerships she has facilitated include the NIEHS-funded Southeast Asian Environmental Justice Partnership and the New Ventures Partnership, the HUD-funded Community Outreach Partnership Center and Diverse Healthy Homes Initiative, and the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Community Leadership and Empowerment. She has been principal investigator on over $16 million of federal grants from the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Housing and Urban Development, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Education. Silka has written extensively on the challenges and opportunities of building research partnerships with diverse groups and has consulted internationally on how to build community-university research partnerships.
Mike Guare Mike Guare was born in Montpelier, Vermont and he grew up in and around Portland. He graduated from Cheverus High School and the University of Southern Maine. He then worked for the United Farm Workers for 2 1/2 years in Boston, Atlanta, and various locations in Florida and California before going to law school. He graduated from Northeastern Law School in Boston and worked for Florida Rural Legal Services in Bartow and Lakeland, Florida for several years before coming back to Maine. Since 1998, he has been working at Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Bangor. He is married, has four daughters, three cats and one dog.
Pam Harpine Pam Harpine is a Native of Aroostook County. She is a Registered Nurse employed by the Maine Department of Health & Human Services/Public Health Nursing (for 30+ years) with experience in providing communicable disease education/surveillance/treatment to migrant populations.
Ray Therrien Ray Therrien has been an educator for over thirty years, He taught English as a Second Language for Literacy Volunteers, Adult Education, and in Mt. Blue High School for RSU 9. He co-developed and taught an alternative education program and directed a migrant summer youth program for Maine Migrant Education for ten years. For the last eleven years Ray has directed the Franklin County Adult Education Program. He is an Officer on the Maine Adult Correctional Education Association, the Student Support Service Coordinator for the Franklin County Community College Network, and on the Adult Education Career Pathways State Team. Ray’s program and staff have been recognized for their mission-driven work and accomplishments both state wide and nationally. Ray enjoys family, nature and adventure.
Richard Rushmore Richard Rushmore retired from Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway with over 40 years experience in the transportation industry. In aviation, he served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Administration of Bar Harbor Airways, President of Provincetown Boston Airline, and Vice President and General Manager of Continental Express. His railroad career includes service as a Trainmaster for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and as Vice Presidents Finance and Marketing for the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. He earned a BA in Economics from Trinity College and an MBA from the Wharton School with a concentration in Transportation and Public Utilities. He and his wife Kathleen have lived in Hampden, Maine since 1979, and have two married sons. Richard serves on several local boards and is active in church leadership.
