Great American Smokeout

BANGOR – Eastern Maine Medical Center will celebrate the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout on Thursday, Nov. 20, by holding two events to help smokers quit the habit for good.

The Great American Smokeout is a day set aside annually to help smokers quit smoking for at least one day with the hope they will quit completely.

The public is invited to a health fair 1-7 p.m. in the JC Penney Court at the Bangor Mall. The fair is geared to helping smokers quit the habit. EMMC will offer helpful tips on how to stop smoking, free breathing tests and free smoking cessation packages. Health fair participants can use the smoking cessation packages for themselves or give them to loved ones to encourage them to quit using tobacco.

Later in the day, Start Stopping Tobacco, a special discussion to help encourage smokers to quit the habit, will take place 7-9 p.m. at Mason Auditorium, EMMC. Ex-smokers and health care professionals will be on hand to offer advice and tips to help kick the habit for good.

For more information about these events, call Kelly Pearson, communications specialist, at 973-7740, or Emily Beamer, senior communications specialist, at 973-6289.

Give boot to smoking

BUCKSPORT – As fall winds into winter, we find ourselves spending time indoors. Doors and windows are closed tight for the cold days and nights ahead, wood stoves are lit and we congregate indoors.

The effect of secondhand smoke on loved ones intensifies at this time of year. Visits to the emergency room for respiratory illnesses and asthma increase dramatically, often directly related to exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke. Secondhand smoke is a major source of indoor air pollution with infants, small children, the elderly most at risk.

What better time to make a commitment to quit smoking for a day, a week, a month or forever – or to make a commitment to not smoke in the house or the car, to cut down and save money.

The annual Great American Smokeout is a great way to get started. Join fellow quitters all across the country on Thursday, Nov. 20, in stamping tobacco out of their lives.

The American Cancer Society offers resources and help at www.cancer.org or 800-ACS-2345. The Maine Tobacco Helpline has free information and support at 800-207-1230.

Don’t smoke? Adopt someone for the day and be a good buddy. Offer support, encouragement, diversions and praise to help them get through the day without tobacco.

For information, contact Bucksport Bay Healthy Communities Coalition at 469-6682, www.bucksportbayhealth.org.

New PA at Capehart Clinic

BANGOR – Penobscot Community Health Care announced the recent arrival of Chrys Landrigan, who joined the facility’s medical staff in September and is accepting new patients at the Capehart Community Clinic, 86 Davis Road.

Landrigan has been practicing as a certified physician assistant for 10 years. She originally worked as an oncology physician assistant at hematology oncology centers of the Northern Rockies in Billings, Mont. When she decided it was time to return to the East Coast, she moved to Eastport, where she worked on the Passamaquoddy Reservation at Pleasant Point for five years.

For the past year, Landrigan has worked as a traveling physician assistant, taking three-month assignments wherever needed in the United States – the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, a VA hospital in Washington state, the student health center at the University of Massachusetts and most recently to Eastern Maine Health Center.

Landrigan said she was very glad to be back home in Maine and enjoys caring for her patients and their families at the Capehart Community Clinic.

Facing The Storm retreat

BANGOR – The Hammond Street Congregational Church Addiction Ministry will be the host for a retreat called “Facing The Storm: For those who have been affected by a friend or loved one’s addiction” from 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, to 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, at Living Waters Retreat Center, 93 Halifax St., Winslow. Call Bill or Lee at 862-5448 for more information.

Daffodil Days volunteers

Help share hope for a future without cancer by supporting the American Cancer Society’s Daffodil Days campaign. Daffodil Days is one of the society’s oldest and most beloved fundraising programs.

Individuals, businesses, schools, faith-based groups and other organizations are invited to join the fight against cancer by raising money, donating time and sharing hope for a future without the disease.

Daffodil Days is coming to Maine March 16-20, 2009. The American Cancer Society is seeking volunteers during February and March to assist in taking orders, packing and delivering daffodils. 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit http://www.cancer.org.

Time to get a flu shot

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reminds people that now is a good time to arrange for a flu shot influenza vaccine. The federal CDC has announced that more than 140 million doses of flu vaccine will be distributed throughout the country in the next few months – the most influenza vaccine ever distributed in the United States for a single season.

“What is new this year is the recommendation that all children ages 6 months to 18 years of age get an annual flu shot,” said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine CDC. “This recommendation is the result of increasing evidence of the impact of influenza on children and their role in transmitting flu in communities.”

“We especially recommend all Mainers in high-risk groups make their appointments now for flu vaccine,” added Mills. Those at high-risk include children age 6 months to 18 years old; anyone age 50 and older; pregnant women; those of any age with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease; those living with or caring for people at high risk; residents of nursing homes; and health care workers.

The Maine CDC has ordered about 164,000 doses of the vaccine, including more than 61,000 preservative-free vaccines for children.

“This year, our vaccine order is primarily for children and adults in public health and high-risk settings, such as nursing homes and homeless clinics,” said Mills. “This is the first year that the federal CDC has recommended that all children older than 6 months receive a flu shot. We would like to protect as many children in Maine as possible.”

For those seeking a flu shot, the first step is to call one’s health care provider. Additionally, a number of home health care agencies and hospitals are providing flu vaccine clinics that are often advertised in local newspapers. Finally, a number of flu vaccine clinics are held in supermarkets and other businesses. The schedule for some of these can be found at www.211maine.org and www.flucliniclocater.org.

The Maine CDC also reminds people of three basic hygiene steps to prevent the spread of disease: covering sneezes and coughs with your sleeve or a tissue; frequent hand-washing, and staying home when ill.

Hygiene campaign materials are available at: www.maineflu.gov, www.mainepublichealth.gov and www.cdc.gov/flu.

“Getting a flu shot and following these simple steps will go a long way toward helping everyone stay healthy this winter,” Mills said.