Lions’ eyeglass collections

BANGOR – The Bangor Lions Club was recognized at the District 41-I Convention held in Rockport recently for achieving the collection of more than 5,000 pairs of eyeglasses. Of the 37 Lions Clubs in the district, the Bangor Club became the one to beat in the annual collection contest.

The Lions Club Recycle for Sight program is ongoing in Maine and the public is encouraged to look through dresser drawers and closets for used eyeglasses and donate them to a local Lions Club.

Used prescription eyeglasses and nonprescription sunglasses are needed. They are cleaned and prepared for distribution in developing countries where eye care is often unaffordable and inaccessible.

“We need everyone to donate their used eyeglasses,” said Brian Hanson, District 41-I chairman of the Recycling Program. “In most developing countries, an eye exam can cost as much as one month’s wages and a single eye doctor may serve a community of thousands of people.”

Maine Lions Clubs ship the eyeglasses to a center in Waterboro where they are sorted and counted. The center takes out some of the best and makes the frames available to eye care professionals and local Lions Clubs for low-income individuals who apply for assistance.

Eyeglasses not utilized in Maine are shipped to one of numerous recycling centers where they are cleaned, categorized by prescription and prepared for distribution outside the United States.

To obtain more information, call 938-2212.

Chief financial officer

BANGOR – Penobscot Community Health Care has announced the addition of Thomas Kohl as chief financial officer.

Kohl, a certified public accountant, holds a master’s degree in health care administration from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Detroit Institute of Technology. He has more than 30 years of experience in health care finance, most recently as the director of corporate compliance and internal audit at Eastern Maine Healthcare.

His career has included an appointment to the National Board of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, and serving as the HFMA representative on the National Not-For-Profit Task Force of the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Kohl is originally from Michigan and has lived in Maine for nearly nine years. He and his wife reside in Brewer and have two grown sons.

PCHC, a nonprofit agency founded in 1997, is the only Federally Qualified Health Center in the Greater Bangor area. Its mission is to provide a wide range of integrated out-patient health care services to those on MaineCare, Medicare and those with and without insurance – regardless of ability to pay. It will provide about 150,000 patient visits in 2006 for some 35,000 people.

Clinics in Bangor and Old Town provide patients with family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, mental health counseling, lab and pharmacy services. PCHC operates a large public health dental clinic in Bangor. Additionally, PCHC has a team of medical specialists who deliver care in podiatry, ear, nose and throat, pain management, pediatric dermatology and urology evaluation and treatment.

PCHC also offers services in Bangor for youth and adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and operates Miles for Smiles, a mobile dental clinic serving low-income children in rural areas of northern and western Maine, with funding from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine.

Rehabilitation center

BREWER – The Maine Center for Integrated Rehabilitation will mark its relocation to Brewer with an open house 4-6 p.m. Thursday, May 18, at the center, Twin City Plaza, 248 State St.

Drop by to share refreshments, meet staff and tour the new location.

Open house and antiques appraisals

BANGOR – The public is invited to an open house and antiques road show in celebration of National Nursing Home Week 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Thursday, May 18, at Westgate Manor, 750 Union St. May Andrews, of Tiques and Tocks of Then in Orrington, will be on hand to give a free appraisal of family heirlooms.

Other events of the day are:

. Entertainment by Janna Whitney, 2:30 p.m.

. Entertainment by Joel Morneault, 6:30 p.m.

. Tours of the new resident kitchen on the Cascade Unit, the new addition to the Acadia Unit, the respite suite on the Residential Care Unit, and the gazebo in the Residential Care courtyard.

. Community resource information at booths set up by the Maine Alzheimer’s Association, Eastern Agency on Aging, Genworth Financial, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network and Kindred Healthcare.

. Free blood pressure screenings.

Call Kristie Miner at 942-7336 for more information.

Nurse of the Year

BANGOR – Nurse Sally Carlisle was named Acadia Hospital’s Nurse of the Year at an awards ceremony held May 2. Carlisle, who was recognized in 1993 as the first Acadia Nurse of the Year, has been a member of the nursing research committee. Her contributions to research include a collaborative project between academia and Acadia as one of the co-investigators in the research study, “Speaking Your Mind: Measuring the Subjective Quality of Life of Children with Mental Illness.” She was a co-presenter of the study at several conferences last year.

She leads a research project titled Improving Students’ Quality of Life through Hospital-School Liaison. She has developed the On Track treatment approach, which involves education and support for children and families with ADHD. She also is the nurse investigator in Acadia’s child-adolescent drug trial.