Rev. Bob's Job

Like many other transplanted Mainers, the Reverend Robert Carlson thought his stint in Maine would be brief. Thirty-eight years later, he’s still here, presiding over the largest Federally Qualified Health Care (FQHC) Center in the state.

But in addition to serving as president of Penobscot Community Health Care, a nonprofit organization founded in 1997 to address the health care needs of eastern Maine’s scattered and often under-served population, “Reverend Bob” has become a local fixture. You can find him giving an invocation at a chamber of commerce dinner, emceeing a Boy Scouts of America awards ceremony, or officiating at the wedding of a new acquaintance. You can hear him on WVOM-FM as part of the “God Squad,” a group of religious leaders who discuss the spiritual side of daily life.

“For me, faith is not a noun, it’s a verb,” says Carlson, 65. For more than 20 years he was the senior pastor of East Orrington Congregational Church, where he supervised the construction of a new church that is used throughout the week by nonprofit organizations in Orrington. He notes that Congregational churches in old New England were meetinghouses, and that towns had to have such meeting places as a requirement for incorporation. “God’s not particularly happy with real estate that sits vacant for six days a week,” he says.

Originally from Massachusetts, Carlson wasn’t sure what to do after completing graduate studies at New York Theological Seminary. He came to Maine in 1970 at the invitation of a friend who was teaching in the counseling program at the University of Maine. A strong interest in mental health, coupled with the need to work while taking classes, led him to the late shift at Bangor Mental Health Institute. “My plan was to come to Maine for just that academic year,” he says. “I never left.”

Carlson went on to create an office of patient advocacy in Augusta, to serve on the executive committee of St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, and finally, to head the largest healthcare nonprofit in the area.

The mission of Penobscot Community Health Care is to provide integrated medical services to residents of the 38 towns in the Greater Bangor region.

It’s a challenge, given the area’s geography and demographics. Two-thirds of PCHC’s patients are MaineCare participants or have lower incomes. Yet in just nine years, PCHC has grown into one of the largest primary care practices in the state, serving more than 43,000 patients per year.

“The head is connected to the body,” Carlson says. “In many practices, mental health is a separate specialty. Here, the mental health people talk to and work with the primary care physicians. The same goes with dentistry. Oral health is connected to overall physical health. We treat the whole patient.”

The heart of PCHC’s operation is the healthcare campus on Union Street in Bangor, which provides services on a sliding scale seven days a week. PCHC also operates Old Town Family Practice, Stillwater Family Medicine in Bangor, and the Miles for Smiles mobile dental clinic.

An Air Force veteran, Carlson regularly attends parades and commemorations. He has taught classes at the University of Maine, the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, and Bangor Theological Seminary. He has served as chaplain for the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office, the Bangor and Brewer Police Departments, and the Bangor Fire Department.

Unlike most Congregationalist pastors, Reverend Carlson wears his collar in his daily life. Part of the reason is his work with law enforcement. “When you show up in a crisis situation, it eliminates a lot of questions,” he says. “They may not know who you are, but they know what your function is.”

But being recognizable on the street has its rewards, too. “The other morning I was sitting in Starbucks,” he says, “and a young man comes in and says, ‘Aren’t you Reverend Bob?’ He said he was getting married soon but didn’t have a regular pastor. He asked me if I would officiate.”

As always, Reverend Bob was happy to serve.