City Home Page: https://bridgtonmaine.org/
Population: 5,368 (Wikipedia 2018)
Locum Assignment: Newborn Hospitalist/High Risk Deliveries (10-14 day Stretches in March, June, July and August 2021)
Food/Local Attractions/Things To Do: Picture Perfect: A Summer in Maine, Picture Perfect: Winter in Central Maine, Top 10 Must Eat Winter Eats in Bridgton, What to Do in Bridgton in Winter
Where to Stay: The Noble House Inn

Recommended Time to Visit: September-October (after tourist season, people tell me it’s called ‘Fall’… I dunno, it’s a season we didn’t have in the South; i think we called it ‘Second Summer’)

If anyone has followed my social media or other blog posts, then you’ve seen so much of Maine! This is one job that I’m particularly very fond of for the location. I would have never thought to go to Central Maine if it hadn’t been working as a Locum Tenens. Discovering how fantastic Maine is, if nothing else, has made my choosing of Locum Tenens 100% worth it, despite the ups and down of employment throughout COVID. As a California-born and Southern-living (for the last 8 years) person, I ALWAYS just thought of Maine as being this cold state near Canada. It is so much more than that, especially during the summer!

The People and the Hospital – People are super nice, friendly and also extremely dedicated to their town. I was searching Moose Meat and a nurse offered to bring me some! Unfortunately, it was the end of one of my assignments and I forgot who it was to ask for it on my return trips. But the townspeople are just as friendly, although a couple of shops definitely have some more blunt New England personalities; not a bad thing, but Dorothy, we’re not in the South anymore.

Weather – Ok, so this has been annoying trying to convince my Southern/Western folk to come visit. Yeah yeah, the winter was cold, down to 5F (-15C)… But the Summer in Maine is so glorious that everything is sold out. I’m talking like 80-90F with low humidity! The Beach weather is better here than in San Diego at some points during the summer.

Food – Obviously the main reason I love Maine, I ate so much Lobster that YES I did get sick of it. At least 114121 lobsters, I dunno, they probably had to fly in more lobsters to repopulate the population after I ate them all. That being said, my small town has some hidden gems like an authentic Northern Thai restaurant (Chao Thai); it’s only open weird hours, but great. Also, the ITALIAN food in New England is always great, but there’s some cute little places that are brilliant in Bridgton too.

My Job – Just to re-define what I do as a Locum Tenens because people are always curious; this job in particular was to be on call for Deliveries at the hospital. Given the low population of the town, almost all of the time I had nothing emergent to do; but, my cloud certainly made sure that over my 4 total weeks here I had a couple of crash deliveries! When I tell people about how being on call like this can be 0 to 100 immediately, I really mean it.

I am forever grateful that at the end of 2020 / early 2021, Bridgton called me up for help, I will miss it dearly and can NOT WAIT to visit and not be working in the future. Definitely adds to my list of “Places to Return to with a Plus 1.”