Newcomb Parker Foundation 2025 Grant Recipients

Newcomb Parker Foundation founders Gerald K. Parker (left) and Nancy Newcomb Parker (center) congratulate grant recipients (l-r) Angela Lyons, Jessica Burton, and Haley Jodoin.  

Three New Hampshire residents are the first recipients of the Newcomb Parker Foundation grants for MaineHealth employees.

Jessica Burton, Gorham, N.H., a licensed nursing assistant at MaineHealth Memorial Hospital, Haley Jodoin, Ossipee, N.H., currently an emergency medical technician at MaineHealth Memorial Hospital, and Angela Lyons, Harrison, Maine, a student at Southern Maine Community College, were honored at a Friday May 23 ceremony at MaineHealth Memorial Hospital in North Conway.

The Newcomb Parker Foundation established these grants to encourage medical and support staff at MaineHealth facilities to expand their knowledge, increase their medical standing and credentials, and continue to improve the quality of service to local communities. Recipients may use funds to cover educational costs, including instructional fees, transportation, childcare or other similar needs.

Foundation founders Nancy Newcomb Parker and Gerald K. Parker of Harrison, Maine, both have had several positive experiences with health care providers, including those at Memorial Hospital. Gerald Parker is the son of a rural physician and spent a career providing crisis counseling to hospitals as an attorney. He paid tribute to the grant recipients and others from Memorial Hospital gathered at the ceremony for their service. “I respect you for your courage and your ‘stick-to-it-iveness.’ He added their foundation looks forward to continuing supporting those seeking to further their health education. “The more education we provide professional staff the better the treatment we can provide to patients.”

Lyons is finishing her senior year studying radiologic technology at Southern Maine Community college and hopes to work in computed tomography (CT) scanning. Burton was accepted into the nursing program at White Mountains Community College. She is also a graduate of Memorial Hospital’s Medical Assistant training program, also offered through WMCC. Jodoin recently completed nursing school at Great Bay Community College and is entering the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the University of New Hampshire.