This post is part of a series of profiles on the 2017 Giraffe Award Winners. We hope to see you Friday, May 19 th
at the Champions for Children Luncheon in Portland. This week, MCA is please to introduce you to Dr. Robert Beekman, a recently retired pediatrician who spent his career serving Northern and Eastern Maine.
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Photo Credit: The Ellsworth America
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For over the past 40 years, Dr. Robert Beekman has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to serving Maine children in the most rural parts of our state. With a special interest in children who have special needs and genetic disorders, Dr. Beekman has provided quality health care to children and worked with families to help them understand their child’s health needs and ensure that they are met. This year we are thrilled to honor Dr. Beekman with a 2017 Giraffe Award for his working caring for Maine children, promoting the understanding of genetics in pediatrics, and the profound difference it has made for Maine kids.
Photo Credit: The Ellsworth America
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For over the past 40 years, Dr. Robert Beekman has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to serving Maine children in the most rural parts of our state. With a special interest in children who have special needs and genetic disorders, Dr. Beekman has provided quality health care to children and worked with families to help them understand their child’s health needs and ensure that they are met. This year we are thrilled to honor Dr. Beekman with a 2017 Giraffe Award for his working caring for Maine children, promoting the understanding of genetics in pediatrics, and the profound difference it has made for Maine kids. “Seeing first-hand the impact he has made on the lives of some of the families in my practices through his persistent pursuit of knowledge, advocating for these families and compassionate care he provided is truly inspiring.” – Alf Wakeman, Down East Community Hospital PediatricsAlthough he officially retired this year, Dr. Beekman spent his career providing quality health care to our most vulnerable children and families in much of Maine’s medically under-served regions. He served as a pediatrician at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth and as a teaching associate at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, preparing the next cohort of pediatricians. While Dr. Beekman is first and foremost a pediatrician, his interest in genetics and its role in pediatrics has proved him to be an invaluable asset to Maine. In fact, this interest has led him to volunteer much of his free time volunteering at the Center for Human Genetics in Bar Harbor, where he graciously gives up several Saturdays a month to provide free counseling for families. It has also earned him national recognition from the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2013.
“His lifetime devotion to pediatrics has positively impacted the lives of thousands of children in our region.” – Alf Wakeman, Down East Community Hospital PediatricsAs a pediatrician, teacher, a learner and a problem-solver, Dr. Beekman has been a remarkable champion for Maine children and families throughout his career. He has consistently taken an innovative approach towards pediatrics and embraced each challenge as an opportunity to learn more and better care for Maine kids, whether turning towards research or connecting families with new resources. There is no doubt that Dr. Beekman continues to go above and beyond to serve rural Maine children and families, and that he has already done so much to make Maine a better place to be a kid. Join us to celebrate Dr. Beekman and the incredible cohort of the 2017 Giraffe Award Winners at the Champions for Children Luncheon next week. Click here to purchase tickets!