News

Corinne "Coky" Wills, New Gloucester's Health Officer, Retires
By Ellie Fellers

New Gloucester -- For 40 years Corinne "Coky" Wills served willingly as New Gloucester's Health Officer, a role that many communities throughout Maine provide as part of municipal government.

Public health and social service combined with nursing expertise form the backbone of the outreach service that Wills headed up for four decades.
If there was a problem that demanded her expertise, she found solutions where solutions were possible.

In the sanctuary of her living room, Wills chatted about some of her remembrances. "We had a swine flu clinic that was successful in the 1960's," Wills said. Shots were administered to 348 residents who attended. Swine flu is also known as hog cholera and is a particularly dangerous disease. Left, WIlls. Ellie Fellers photo

Wills was instrumental in forming a wide circle of outreach programs to augment better community health services for local citizens. She remembers working with AMVET Post 6 in Bloodmobiles, the Lions Club's Glaucoma Clinic. And, pre school clinics were held in March, April and May before children entered kindergarten.

Polio clinics, tetanus clinics and immunization clinics were available locally through her outreach to the community to make access easier.

For more than a quarter of a century Wills also worked for SAD 15 as a school nurse.

She knew everything and everybody who was in need of help. For example, in 1985 when Hurricane Gloria struck the area, she worked to use the town plan that listed Memorial School as the emergency shelter for the town.
Also, rabies clinics were held and pets were vaccinated through outreach from the town and Wills and local veterinarian Dr. Kinney. Now folks make private arrangements to protect their pets.

As the town's Health Officer, Wills was responsible for reporting to the state all communicable diseases in the town. She was also responsible for reporting child abuse cases to the state. She had a small fund of money to provide prescriptions for the elderly. Social service work and regional planning outreach were among the tasks that Wills performed. She remains today on the Board of Directors for the Poland Health Clinic, an initiative that started locally with input from the Sabbathday Lake Grange and other interested citizens.

Thanksgiving and Christmas have been happier events for the needy through Wills' outreach and help from the Salvation Army of Portland. With her merry elves and community volunteers, families have received food and gifts during the holiday period, home delivered in many cases.

Now New Gloucester's Health Officer tasks have been assigned to Code Enforcement Officer Debby Parks.

"People still have the needs, but the role of the health officer has changed with the improvement of health care. We don't have many of these diseases anymore," Wills said.

That's good news for Wills who has seen dramatic change to medical access and medical science today.

Coky Wills received the Jefferson Award for community service several years ago. She's a person who has been part of making a difference for quality of life in a still rural town in Maine.

She lives with her husband Pete on the Cobbs Bridge Road. They are the parents of adult children.

A graduate of Maine Medical Center's Nursing School, Coky worked there and at Central Maine Medical Center, then stayed home to raise her children before accepting the SAD 15 post. But, her entire professional career has been devoted to the people of New Gloucester as their Health Officer.