Samson Cournane Fought to Inform Community About Healthcare Practices, Now Developing Website to Provide More Industry Transparency
An 18-year-old Hampden, Maine resident will receive the New England First Amendment Coalition‘s 2026 Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award for his efforts to bring more transparency to the healthcare industry.
Samson Cournane’s advocacy began five years ago when his mother was fired from a local hospital after raising safety concerns in the workplace. Cournane began combing through public records to find the hospital’s patient safety ratings and prior incidents. A University of Maine student at the time, Cournane published his findings and concerns in the campus student newspaper. He also created an online petition demanding the hospital change its practices and provide more transparency to the public.
The hospital responded by suing Cournane’s mother for defamation and claiming that she was the one authoring the communication. With the help of a national First Amendment organization, the hospital eventually relented and Cournane’s free speech rights were vindicated. The case also encouraged lawmakers to pass a law to strengthen the state’s anti-SLAPP statute.
Cournane is now developing a website — epieme.com — to bring more transparency to the healthcare industry. The site intends to help members of the public to track, understand, and act on patient safety and healthcare accountability issues. The resource, Cournane said, will be especially helpful for patients, families, young advocates, and low-income individuals who often face the most challenges within the healthcare system.
The site will provide public, though difficult to find, information from government websites, hospital reports, policy documents, legal records and agency updates. It aims to turn complicated healthcare information into clear summaries.
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The Orfield Award is given to an individual from New England who has fought for information essential to the public’s understanding of what its government is doing or not doing on its behalf. Those honored with the award have shown perseverance in the face of difficulty while obtaining information the public has a right to know.
Cournane will receive this year’s Orfield Award at a private ceremony in Boston next month.
Previous recipients are Laurie Ortolano (2025); Daniel Dunn (2024); Susan Hawes (2023); Tara Gunnigle (2022); Jeanne Kempthorne (2021); the Cook v. Raimondo Student Activists (2020); David Saad (2019); the Hyde Square Task Force (2018); Donna Green (2017); Michael Champa (2016); Harriet Cady (2015); Kit Savage (2014); and David Lang (2013).
NEFAC is the region’s leading defender of the First Amendment and open government. The coalition began in 2006 to advance and protect the five freedoms of the First Amendment, including the principle of the public’s right to know. We’re a broad-based organization of people who believe in the power of an informed democratic society.
Our coalition is funded through contributions made by those who value the First Amendment and who strive to keep government accountable. Please make a donation here.
NEFAC appreciates the support of all its donors and contributors. In particular, we would like to recognize the Estate of Gloria L. Negri, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the following Leadership Circle donors: Rhode Island Foundation, The Boston Globe, Paul and Ann Sagan, The Harbus Foundation, Boston University, the Champa Charitable Foundation and the Robertson Foundation. Major Supporters of NEFAC’s work include Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Gravel & Shea PC, the Academy of New England Journalists, Truro News and Patrisha McLean.