What a wonderful celebration it will be for all the people who know Lou Ingrisano of Mount Desert when they attend an open house in his honor from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 19, at the Family Health Center, 9 Hancock St., Bar Harbor.

The open house, hosted by Mount Desert Island Hospital and Health Centers in Bar Harbor, is in recognition of Ingrisano being named the National Rural Physician Assistant of the Year, which is presented by the American Academy of Physician Assistants and is known as the Paragon Award.

The AAPA national headquarters is located in Alexandria, Va.

Edd Farrell, director of membership promotion and marketing for the AAPA, told me the association’s award program was launched in 1984, but that “the Rural PA of the Year award didn’t start until 1987,” and that Ingrisano is the first physician assistant from Maine to receive this award.

When he returned home after serving 1968-70 as a lab technician with the U.S. Army in Japan, Ingrisano said, he found his marine biology major left him “overqualified for some positions, and underqualified for others.”

So he moved to Maine in 1971 and worked as a lab technician before being accepted into a physician assistant program in Albany, N.Y., where he trained 1974-76.

Returning to Maine, he worked in Machias and then left physician assistant work to start his own business.

During that time, he patented a trauma vest for emergency services but, finding himself “not a businessman,” he said, he returned to being a physician assistant, and has been at it ever since.

Ingrisano’s name is familiar far and wide in eastern Maine, because he also worked in private practice and at both St. Joseph Hospital and Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Since his return to the Bar Harbor area in the 1980s, Ingrisano has been active not only in his profession, but as a community volunteer as well.

According to information provided by Jeff Nichols of the MDI Hospital public relations office, with the help of a grant, Ingrisano established the Outer Island Initiative, traveling twice a year, by boat, to the outer islands of Maine to set up health screening clinics.

New telecommunications technology enables Ingrisano to provide that care from the hospital, and he visits those islands only once a year.

This work is performed in conjunction with the Maine Sea Coast Missionary Society through the use of its boat, the Sunbeam, which is docked on Frenchboro Island.

From there, registered nurse Sharon Daley communicates with Ingrisano on the care of island patients.

Ingrisano’s community volunteer efforts include service as medical director for the Somesville fire companies, and he also performs TB testing for the Mount Desert fire company.

A member of the MDI Regional Health Care Corp. board of directors, Ingrisano served two terms on his local school board.

Ingrisano said it was “a major ceremony” when he received the national award May 25 at the AAPA national conference in Boston, which was attended by 7,500 people and featured former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo as the keynote speaker.

And while Ingrisano helps take care of many rural Maine residents, he also works to help the less fortunate in other countries.

This year, he will travel to Mongolia and South America on an annual medical mission sponsored by the Ellsworth-based Hancock County Medical Mission.

With the Paragon Award, Ingrisano receive $5,000, of which half will be donated to the Mount Desert Island YMCA Scholarship Fund.

The remaining $2,500 will help fund his travel expenses during the two-week mission to Mongolia in September.

He also is trying to raise $1,000 for medications to take to Mongolia, and anyone wanting to make a tax-deductible donation can send a check payable to the Hancock County Medical Mission, Box 241, Ellsworth 04605. You are requested to write “Mongolia” on the memo line.

Any money raised above the $1,000 will help fund the trip to South America next February.

Meanwhile, If you want to shake the hand of, and offer your congratulations to, the National Rural PA of the Year, be sure to attend Wednesday’s open house.

The first Corinth Area Kiwanis Club Auction, to benefit local Kiwanis charities and projects, begins at 7 p.m. Friday, July 15, at Tilton’s Auction in Corinth.

Money raised during this event will help fund a veterans memorial, a bicycle safety rodeo and local scholarships, as well as providing a contribution to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine and other Kiwanis projects and organizations.

Among the items in the auction will be an American flag that will be flown over the U.S. Capitol, which you can dedicate to someone special; autographed sports merchandise and pictures; tickets to athletic events and museums; restaurant and retail certificates; and opportunities to bid on whale-watching, ski, or train trips.

Corinth Kiwanians are also looking for new items, or unused or unwanted items in good condition and good working order, for the auction.

To make such a donation, call either Terri Jane Stymiest, 285-7966, or Debbie Dunham, 285-7758, to make arrangements for the items to be dropped off or to be picked up.

Castlebay, featuring Mainers Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee, will perform a concert of Celtic music at 7 p.m. Friday, June 21, in the Skowhegan Area High School Auditorium.

Admission prices for the concert range up to $10 per person.

The concert features a blend of Scottish and contemporary music on harp, flute, violin and other instruments, and benefits the students of the SAHS drama department who will travel in August to Scotland, where they will participate in the International Fringe Festival.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.