Long service to CHCS

BANGOR – Alan Glanville, a 40-year employee of Community Health and Counseling Services, and 35-year staff member Ruthanne Singal were among those honored during the agency’s staff and foster parent recognition ceremony.

The ceremony was held in conjunction with the CHCS annual meeting.

Glanville, who plans to retire on Jan. 27, was described as an exemplary employee in the agency’s adult mental health services department.

Singal has been a key member of the agency’s health services department since 1976 after beginning her work with CHCS in its adult mental health services department.

Other longtime CHCS employees feted included Valerie Levy, Management Information Systems manager, for 30 years of service. Debra Hodgkins of administration, Finance Director Dick Israel and Mary Ellen Quinn of adult mental health services were honored for 25 years of service.

Twenty-year employees recognized were health services director Helen Burlock, Dr. Paul D. Goodman of Children’s Services, and Linda Shaw of administration.

Those honored for 15 years were Bonny Dodson, Donna Faloon, Theresa Farinaro, Argenta Jeffrey, Ann Sawyer and Elizabeth Tapley, all of children’s services; Mary Haynes and James Lilly of adult mental health services; and Susan Head and Marilyn Wheeler of health services.

Community Health and Counseling Services is a private, nonprofit home health and mental health agency serving the people, families and communities of Maine. For more information about CHCS, call (800) 924-0366 or visit www.chcs-me.org.

Bangor Area Visiting Nurses

BANGOR – In 2005, Bangor Area Visiting Nurses launched its first-ever capital campaign. On Dec. 14, BAVN celebrated the success of the Time to Care Capital Campaign at its 92nd annual meeting.

The Time to Care Capital Campaign raised more than $75,000 to provide BAVN’s nurses, therapists, social workers and home health aides with state-of-the-art electronic medical record units. The computers allow home care providers to access accurate, up-to-date information about their patients at the touch of a button.

“To date, the campaign has raised $81,103,” said Helen Genco, BAVN president and CEO. “We are grateful to the community for its support in providing this technology to our clinicians. The electronic medical record units are a perfect example of how technology has improved our ability to keep up with regulatory demands and stay very much in touch with our century-old tradition of helping people.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins was the national honorary campaign chairman for the Time to Care Capital Campaign.

From its humble, yet proud, beginnings in 1913 as the Bangor Health Committee, Bangor Area Visiting Nurses has maintained a staff of nurses, home health aides, therapists and social workers to serve health care needs in the region. As the delivery of health care moves from the hospital to home setting, the need for qualified care at home has increased.

Bangor Area Visiting Nurses cares for nearly 1,000 home care and hospice patients annually within a 25-mile radius of Bangor. For more information about the Time To Care Capital Campaign or BAVN programs and services, call Deb Jacques at 973-6550.

Fitness center in Bucksport

BUCKSPORT – The International Paper Foundation awarded the town of Bucksport’s recreation department a grant of $16,441 to purchase equipment for the town’s proposed fitness center. Acquisition of the exercise equipment paves the way for the fitness center to open at the Jewett Community Center in early February. The center will be equipped with treadmills, cycles, elliptical machine and Bow Flex weights.

Submission of the grant was made possible through the volunteer efforts of Arline Staples, an employee at the IP Bucksport mill. Staples has worked at IP for 26 years and serves as a volunteer on the Bucksport Bay Healthy Communities Coalition.

The need for a fitness center is well documented through the town’s health plan, which cites the need for a program for residents to improve cardiovascular health and prevent and control cardiovascular disease. In 2000, 29,000 hospitalizations in Maine were due to cardiovascular disease at a cost of $437 million.

For more information, call Mary Jane Bush, health planning director, Bucksport Bay Healthy Communities, Drawer X, Bucksport, ME 04416, call 469-6682, or e-mail mjbush@bucksportbayhealth.org.

Physical therapist

BANGOR – HealthSouth Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center, 12 Stillwater Ave., has announced that physical therapist Kristin Pelletier has joined the staff.

Pelletier is a 2005 graduate of Husson College, graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in health sciences and master’s degree in physical therapy. She has clinical background in orthopedics and is interested in women’s health.

Derek Loupin, HealthSouth clinical coordinator and also a Husson alumnus, said, “HealthSouth is looking forward to having Kristin join our clinic. Her background and educational training will be another positive aspect for our referral sources and patients.”

While at Husson, Pelletier, a Madawaska native, was a four-year member of the women’s soccer team and captain her junior and senior years. She is an avid skier and enjoys spending time in the Maine outdoors.

Cardiac wellness programs

BANGOR – Eastern Maine Medical Center’s Cardiac Wellness of Maine offers this schedule of programs:

. Tobacco Boot Camp, 4-5:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16 and 23, Cardiac Wellness of Maine. $20. Kick the habit.

. How to Live to be 100, 6-7:30p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, Cardiac Wellness of Maine. Free. Learn how to add years to your life.

. Women at Risk for Heart Disease, 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, Cardiac Wellness of Maine. Free.

. Graduate School for Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients, 9-10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, Bangor Y, Hammond Street. Free. Dr. Robert Allen, medical director of Cardiac Wellness of Maine will talk about effective exercise routines.

. Cooking for Heart Health, 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, March 4 and March 11, Cardiac Wellness of Maine. $30.

. Unwinding the Spring, 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, 22 and 29, Cardiac Wellness of Maine. $30. Learn to manage stress.

. Heart Support and Education Group, 4-5:30 p.m. second Thursday of each month. Free.

Registration is required for all classes by calling 973-8476.

Cervical cancer month

BANGOR – In observance of National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, the Penobscot Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition in coordination with the Maine Breast and Cervical Health Program is encouraging physicians to remind patients to have annual exams.

During January, the coalition will have available for borrowing cervical cancer awareness videos. Copies will be made available for pick up at Penquis Community Action Program, 262 Harlow St., Bangor. For information, or to reserve a copy, call 973-3615.