Award for direct support

HERMON – OHI announced that Tess Collins has been chosen as one of three winners nationally of the Irwin Siegel Agency Direct Support Professional Recognition Award. She will be honored 4-6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, at the Isaac Farrar Mansion, 166 Union St., Bangor. The president of the Irwin Siegel Agency, the president of ANCOR and Bonnie Brooks will speak in honor of Collins and the direct support profession.

Irwin Siegel Agency Inc. created and has sponsored the award for seven years to support those who support others. The award recognizes a direct support professional who has demonstrated an exemplary level of performance over the course of employment and consistently demonstrates commitment to improving the quality of life for consumers of direct support services.

Collins has been employed at OHI for 13 years. She has supported a variety of people with disabilities and has provided invaluable service to OHI. She consistently has demonstrated her commitment to and care for people with disabilities and has helped clients achieve interdependence and community inclusion.

She is committed to assisting people to improve the quality of their lives through her belief in self-determination, her natural leadership abilities, her efforts to include people in the community, her commitment to professional development and her passion for teaching people.

“Early in my life, I realized that I wanted to spend my life teaching others and pursued that [goal] through my own education,” Collins said. “After leaving college, I decided to spend a bit of time working with adults with intellectual disabilities, with the knowledge that I would move forward with my teaching career in the near future.

“Shortly after beginning my work at OHI, I realized that my role was that of a teacher,” Collins said. “Though I was working with a different population than I had originally planned, my job was to teach the people I was supporting the skills they needed to live productively in their communities.”

Irwin Siegel Agency is a leading insurance and risk management organization in the human services field, insuring service providers in 49 states.

For information, visit www.siegelagency.com.

Employee recognition

BANGOR – During an employee recognition program on Nov. 8, 47 St. Joseph Healthcare employees were honored for a total of 450 years of combined service to the organization. Recognition is based on each five-year anniversary of employment at St. Joseph Healthcare. The following employees were recognized:

40 years: Theresa Godin.

25 years: Becky Joy and Toni Ouellette-Dupuis.

20 years: Sister Mary Edmund and David Voteur.

15 years: Rebecca Boehmer, Erin DiFrederico, Nadine Lyford, Janice Melton and Stephanie Schmermund.

10 years: Stephanie Boutin, TinaMarie Bowlin-Norris, Barbara Buchak, Dianne Davis, Donald Ferrell, Michael McNally, Lisabeth Meechan, Jean Roberts, Roger Severance, Mary Stout, Paul Taliaferro and Matthew Woodward.

Five years: Reita Abbott, Laurel Anderson, Dr. Rodney Chelberg, Angela Clement, Carlene Cloukey, Ronald Crall, David Demmons, Gary Gerow, Sue Hamlin, Denise Holt, Judith Hurd, Peter Ireland, Paulette Lagasse, Derrill Maynard, Christopher Mayo, Linda McCormick, Deborah McFarland, Courtney Nadeau, Dr. Steven Nadeau, Robin Pickering, Alisa Ramsdell, Eugenia Sargent, Irma Streams, Crinia Warner and Karen Yardley.

Physical disabilities support

BANGOR – The Physical Disabilities Support Group will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 20, at Alpha One, 1048 Union St.

The purpose of the change in date is to allow group members to participate in a project being conducted by Alpha One – a survey about people’s access to health care.

Sleep disorder support

BANGOR – St. Joseph Healthcare’s Center for Sleep Medicine will present a discussion on the topic “Cooking Lite for the Holidays” at the meeting of the center’s patient support group 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, at the St. Francis Center, 294 Center St., across the street from the hospital.

The discussion will be led by Donna Pereira and will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

The support group is open to the public and holds meetings quarterly for people with sleep disorders.

Refreshments will be served, compliments of Respironics. To register for the event or to obtain information, call 262-1630.

Successful fashion show

The St. Joseph Hospital Auxiliary reports that its Fall Fashion Show held Nov. 2 drew 400 people and raised $30,000. Weber Mortgage, Norlen’s Water Treatment LLC and Merrill Bank sponsored the event which featured a vintage fashion showcase and an auction with the Rev. Robert Carlson serving as auctioneer.