Time to support Rape Response Services

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Those who like music can support Rape Response Services while enjoying these events:

. Hope and Healing: An Evening of Live Music to Benefit Rape Response Services, 7-9 p.m. Thursday, April 19, Keith Anderson Community Center, Bennoch Road, Orono. Sponsored by DADGAD Coffee House, featuring a variety of regional musicians, $5 suggested donation includes desserts and nonalcoholic beverages.

Shop online in April to support Rape Response Services:

. Art from around the World Internet Sale to Benefit Rape Response Services, April 1-30.

Online etsy.com member artists and makers of handmade crafts from around the world are donating a portion of sales generated from specially selected jewelry, quilts, body products, stained glass and other works to Rape Response Services. Check out links to the variety of beautiful, one-of-a-kind, handmade works at www.raperesponseservices.orgor www.etsy.com, search “hopeandhealing.”

Join Rape Response Services at the following community events:

. HOPE Festival, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 21, University of Maine Fieldhouse, Orono.

. Greenville Public Forum-National Victims of Crime Awareness Week, 3 p.m. Thursday, April 26, Greenville High School.

. Millinocket Regional Health Fair 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, May 5, Stearns High School, Millinocket.

. Community Conference on Domestic and Sexual Violence 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 8, I-Care Ministries, Millinocket.

March of Dimes WalkAmerica

BREWER – Gene Staffiere of the Northern Maine Division, March of Dimes, has announced dates for WalkAmerica:

. Sunday, April 29, in Rockland and Belfast.

. Saturday, May 5, Life and Praise Church, 321 State St., Ellsworth.

. Sunday, May 6, in Bangor, Newport and the Penquis region, which includes Dover-Foxcroft, Dexter and Greenville.

. Sunday, May 20, in Presque Isle and Houlton.

Proceeds from these events benefit March of Dimes research to help babies and families affected by premature birth, which is the No. 1 cause of newborn death.

To participate in this year’s WalkAmerica or to become a volunteer, call Staffiere at 989-3376 or e-mail him at gstaffiere@marchofdimes.com.

To make a donation, send to March of Dimes Foundation, 12 Acme Road, Brewer 04412.

Renal dialysis center

BANGOR – Eastern Maine Medical Center has received a $25,000 gift from the Davis Family Foundation for a new chronic renal dialysis center. Thanks in part to the foundation’s donation, the $1.6 million Lifetime of Care campaign is nearing its goal: more than $1.48 million has been raised in gifts and pledges.

As part of an effort to provide better outpatient care, the chronic and home kidney dialysis program is moving to a new location at the EMMC Healthcare Mall on Union Street. The new state-of-the-art center, scheduled to open in May, will allow room for growth, easier patient parking and access, six additional dialysis stations, private consult rooms and exam rooms.

Nurse Nadine Tasker, director of Renal Services, said, “The dialysis program currently operates three shifts a day, six days a week with just 15 dialysis stations. We have been at capacity for years and there is no room to grow on EMMC’s campus. There is also limited clinical space in the existing unit or space for patients and their families.”

The Davis Family Foundation is a public charitable foundation established by Phyllis C. Davis and H. Halsey Davis to support educational, medical, cultural and arts organizations in Maine.

For more information about EMMC’s renal services programs, contact Karen Sanborn at 973-6164. To make a donation to the campaign, call Lynn Boulger, director of development, at 973-5498.

Health care accreditation

BANGOR – By demonstrating compliance with the Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety, the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center has earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval.

“Accreditation of our facility is one way to demonstrate our commitment to safety and quality of care to our patients, their families and friends and to the community,” said Mary Louise McEwen, superintendent of the center. “We view Joint Commission accreditation as a significant step toward achieving a level of excellence.”

The Joint Commission conducted an unannounced, on-site evaluation of the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center April 3-5. The accreditation award recognizes the staff’s dedication to complying with the commission’s state-of-the-art standards on a continuous basis. The accreditation is good for three years, expiring in 2010.

“Our national standards are intended to stimulate continuous, systematic and organizationwide improvement in an organization’s performance and the outcomes of care,” said Darlene Christiansen, executive director of the Joint Commission’s Hospital Accreditation Program. “The community should be proud that Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center is focusing on the most challenging goal – to continuously raise quality and safety to higher levels.”