Program honors those with brain disorders

BANGOR – The Bangor chapter of the National Association of the Mentally Ill will hold a program to honor the courage and perseverance of individuals with brain disorders at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 120 Park St.

U.S. Rep. John Baldacci will be the guest speaker. He will talk about how the mental health care delivery system could be improved to meet the needs of mentally ill children.

Nancy Grimes, president of the NAMI Bangor Affiliate, said the process to get care for children with acute mental health crises sometimes requires a wait of eight-10 hours.

A two-minute WVII video interview with two NAMI family members will be shown.

The Notables, a 25-member choir organized by Community Health and Counseling Services, will provide music. The Notables comprise those with mental illness and staffers who help them.

Grimes said of last year’s gathering, which drew 120 attendees, “I learned that a vigil helps educate because the mentally ill tell their stories.”

The evening will end with a candlelight vigil, social hour and refreshments. For information, call Grimes at 223-5686.

Nurse practitioners’ award

The Maine Nurse Practitioners Association has presented the 2002 American Academy of Nurse Practitioners State Award for Excellence to Penny DeRaps, a nurse practitioner who once worked in Bangor.

DeRaps was recognized for “Excellence of Care and Outstanding Contribution in Practice” according to the award, given yearly to honor nurse practitioners who are examples for others in the field.

According to Patsy Leavitt, president of Maine Nurse Practitioners Association, “Penny DeRaps is a remarkable woman who has demonstrated both leadership and compassion to her patients and those around her. Her accomplishments are numerous. Among them, her success in leading the effort to obtain authorization for nurse practitioners to prescribe schedule II medications is notable.”

DeRaps graduated from a nursing program in Buffalo, N.Y., and worked in hemodialysis in the early days of that procedure. She moved to Maine in 1970, working in intermediate and critical care units at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

In 1972 she started the first dialysis unit at Maine General Medical Center in Waterville. She went back to school for a bachelor’s degree in nursing at Lehman College in New York, then obtained certification as a nurse practitioner, graduating with a master’s degree.

Returning to Maine, DeRaps worked at Sebasticook Valley Hospital’s emergency department, while also teaching at the University of Maine.