St. Joseph employee honors

BANGOR – During an employee recognition program on May 24, 28 St. Joseph Healthcare employees were honored for a total of 310 years of service. Recognition was based on five-year anniversaries of dedication to St. Joseph Healthcare. Recognized were:

. 30 years: John Redman, operating room; Pamela Sirois, Regional Breast Care Center.

. 25 years: Gloria Attenweiler, critical care unit.

. 20 years: John Chase, clinical engineering; Charles Sargent, maintenance.

. 15 years: Carolyn Coco, health science library; Julia Farrar, ambulatory surgery; Kathleen Healey, regional breast care center; Eileen Herring, pre-admission testing; Eileen Sinclair, radiology; Diane White, physician billing.

. 10 years: Michael Davis, maintenance; Joleen West, endoscopy.

. 5 years: Lori Borja, nursing administration; Mary Brassbridge, critical care unit; Sharon Brazier, operating room; Laurie Breton, financial management; Veronica Burke, outpatient respiratory therapy; Rachael Chesson, respiratory therapy; Debra Emerson, lymphedema clinic; Dannie Maheux, cardiopulmonary care unit; Donna Mahon, cardiology; Dr. Laura Matones, Northeast Inpatient Medical Service; Brynn Maynard, cardiac rehabilitation; Barbara McMahon, cardiopulmonary care unit; Ann Merrill, cardiopulmonary care unit; Barbara Moreshead, performance improvement; and Judith Wedge, dietary.

MRI accreditation

BANGOR – Open MRI of Bangor has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in magnetic resonance imaging as the result of a recent survey of the American College of Radiology in Reston, Va.

The ARC awards accreditation to facilities for the achievement of high practice standards after a peer-review evaluation. Assessments are conducted by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. They assess the qualifications of the personnel and adequacy of the facility equipment. The surveyors report their findings to the ACR’s Committee on Accreditation, which provides the practice with a comprehensive report.

The ACR is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic and treatment radiologists, radiation oncologists and medical physicists with programs for focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.

Dedication of hearing booth

BANGOR – The Warren Center for Communication & Learning officially dedicated its second hearing booth in a ceremony for donors, staff and board members on May 17.

Board of Directors president Wayne Woodford gave a toast and thanked those who made the audiology expansion possible. Warren Center administrative director Mary E. Poulin was equally impressed by the dedication of those who helped the center achieve its goal.

“We have a dedicated staff and board and wonderful donors,” she said. “Their generosity now makes it possible for us to better serve the hearing needs of adults and children in the Bangor area.”

The reception to dedicate the booth was held at the Warren Center and included the unveiling of a plaque to recognize those who donated to the project. Dr. Kimberly Starkey, one of the center’s audiologists, gave some of the attendees a hearing screening.

The campaign to expand the audiology services, called “Be a Hearing Aide,” began in 2002. More than $72,000 was raised, enabling the center to erect a hearing booth that had been donated, purchase the equipment necessary to perform complete hearing testing, and hire a second audiologist to keep up with the growing demand for the center’s services.

The Warren Center for Communication & Learning is Bangor’s oldest nonprofit professional speech and hearing center. The Warren Center provides evaluations, therapies and technologies in the areas of speech, language development and hearing to the children and adults of Eastern and Central Maine.

A yard sale will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 28, in the Warren Center parking lot at 175 Union St. Proceeds will benefit the Voices to be Heard hearing aid program. For information, call 941-2850.

Rehabilitation accreditation

BANGOR – The Commission on Accreditation for Rehabilitation Facilities announced that Maine Center for Integrated Rehabilitation has been accredited for three years for its brain injury outpatient rehabilitation programs for adults, children and adolescents. This is its sixth consecutive accreditation.

The designation indicates the organization’s conformance to the commission’s demanding standards after a rigorous peer review and demonstrating that its programs and services are of the highest quality.

Maine Center for Integrated Rehabilitation has clinics in Bangor, Winslow, Rockport and South Portland.

Established in 1966, the commission promotes the quality, value and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative process that centers on enhancing the lives of those it serves.

For information, call Pamela Colson Power, director of marketing and community relations, or Clayton Fowlie, executive director, at 942-1492.

Genetics research grant

BANGOR – Eastern Maine Medical Center has been awarded a grant from the National Cancer Institute-Institute of Health. Awarded to the Molecular Research Laboratory at EMMC, the $130,000 grant will enhance the planned activity of the Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health. The grant is the first basic research grant from the National Institute of Health for EMMC and the human genetics institute.

A factor in receiving the grant was the work of EMMC researcher Janet Bayleran, who specializes in microarray technology to study complex gene expression in tumor cells. The work has potential for clinical diagnostics, disease prognosis and therapeutic intervention. Its most immediate application is in oncology, which deals with tumor development, diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

Bayleran’s research is aimed at improving the ability to predict which breast cancer patients are at high risk for recurrence of cancer, and to assist in determining the best method of treatment.

The hospital’s proposal was evaluated by a team of scientists specializing in cancer research. EMMC’s multidisciplinary team includes oncologists, pathologists, molecular biologists and statisticians who will contribute their expertise to the study.

The Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health is a subsidiary of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, under a collaborative agreement with the University of Maine and the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor. Scientists in those organizations will channel promising new discoveries in mouse and model organism genetics to the institute.

The Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health collaborative also formalizes relationships with the University of Maine and the Jackson Laboratory, creating a “bench to bedside” program and expanding preclinical medical education and research opportunities for students enrolled in the University of Maine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Bayerlan credited the administrative support of EMMC and Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems with bringing the project to fruition.

“This kind of institutional commitment allows the kind of research that will translate into improved medical care down the road,” she said.