Beds from Penobscot headed to Africa

Partners for World Peace collected old supplies and equipment from defunct Penobscot Nursing Home

Karen Eaton with volunteers from Partners for World Health, from right to left: Elvis Ngoran, Athanasius Wirsiy, Ndukong Kilian, and Javis Laban. Photo courtesy of Karen Eaton.

Oct. 20, 2026

By Maizy Weirich

PENOBSCOT—Old beds from a defunct nursing home are getting a new life in Africa.

Nearly three dozen beds and other items from the former Penobscot Nursing Home were loaded onto a truck by the Portland-based nonprofit Partners for World Health on Oct. 9 and 14, who will ship them to Cameroon on the west coast of Africa.

“These items are going to be of great help to the health centers and hospitals run by the diocese of Kumbo in Cameroon. We offer health services to all in our diocese,” said Reverend Ndukong Kilian of St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Bangor, who collaborated with the nonprofit to move the beds and other supplies.

Partners for World Health works “to improve health care and reduce environmental impact by collecting surplus medical equipment and supplies and distributing them to communities in need globally and locally,” according to its website. 

Kilian had sent a message to Karen Eaton, one of the former nursing home’s new owners, explaining the need for additional medical supplies in Cameroon. The nursing home is owned by Eaton and her husband Skip, who are redeveloping it into a mixed use property known as Northern Bay Commons.

Inside the former Penobscot Nursing Home, where bed frames and other materials were collected by Partners for World Health. Photo by Karen Eaton.

“With the present crisis in the English-speaking region, which has made movement difficult to move to the city for medical attention, our diocese has extended medical care to rural areas to meet the needs of all,” Kilian said.

Conflict and insurgencies in Cameroon have displaced more than 2 million people in recent years, according to the United Nations.

Eaton said she was pleased the equipment will find new uses through Partners for World Health.

“They showed up, and they went through the section that we needed to demolish. I told them, ‘take whatever you want,’” Karen Eaton said in an interview with The Rising Tide. 

In total, Eaton said Partners for World Health took about 30 beds, 30 tables, blankets, sheets, walkers and wheelchairs. 

The former nursing home still has a lot of extra equipment and furniture that Eaton is hoping to give away.

“If anybody's interested, we definitely would love to get rid of them if we can,” Eaton said. “I’m pleased that these beds and tables and such went to a place where they can definitely be used.”