Miracle Marathon
Individuals and groups of all ages and fitness levels will begin a 27.2-day Miracle Marathon on Tuesday, Sept. 16, to improve their own health while supporting EMHS Foundation Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals
Miracle Marathon is a virtual fundraising program created by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Participants are encouraged to move the equivalent of one mile per day through any activity they choose from Sept. 16 to Oct. 12.
Participants will receive daily encouragement to meet their fitness and fundraising goals. A personal donation page and blog for each Miracle Marathoner will be set up to track progress and share stories. Participants are asked to raise approximately $10 per day for their local EMHS member Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.
For information or to register to participate, visit MiracleMarathon.org.
Hospice volunteer training
BANGOR — Hospice of Eastern Maine has scheduled its 2014 volunteer training course 12:30-4:30 p.m. on six consecutive Mondays, Oct. 13-Nov. 17, at the EMMC Healthcare Mall, 885 Union St. HOEM invites caring men and women who feel drawn to helping neighbors who are terminally ill to apply for a space in the class.
HOEM volunteers are compassionate people of all ages and walks of life who share their time and friendship with people who have a life expectancy of six or fewer months. Volunteers live within a 25-mile radius of Bangor and generally give two to four hours each week when assigned to a patient. They serve both HOEM and Community Health and Counseling Services Hospice patients and are members of an interdisciplinary group that plans and delivers patient care.
The training course will help participants better understand the dynamics of end-of-life and prepare them to provide companionship, emotional support, respite and bereavement care for hospice patients and their families.
Hospice is holistic care that focuses on the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of patients and their family caregivers. Trained professionals provide the physical, psychosocial and spiritual aspects of care. Hospice volunteers offer comfort care, such as listening, talking, playing games, reading, writing letters, recording memoirs, preparing a meal or driving to appointments. Volunteers usually are assigned to only one patient and family at a time.
For information about becoming a patient care volunteer or to learn about other volunteer opportunities with Hospice of Eastern Maine, call Wayne Melanson, volunteer manager at 973-8269 or email wmelanson@emhs.org. Aspiring patient care volunteers must complete an application and interview before Friday, Oct. 10.
Family-to-Family
BANGOR — NAMI Bangor, the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will offer a free, 12-week Family-to-Family course for family members and friends of individuals living with mental illness 5-7:30 p.m. Sept. 14-Dec.7, with Thanksgiving week off, in Veazie . Family-to-Family is an evidence-based educational course that covers information about mood disorders (bipolar disorder and major depression), schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder and other major mental illnesses. In addition, the course includes sections on coping skills, such as handling crisis and relapse, suicide prevention, basic information about medications, listening and communication techniques, problem-solving skills, recovery and rehabilitation, and self-care around worry and stress.
For information about class location and to register for the class, call Lori Ireland at 942-3035, Betsy Rose at 866-3307 or the NAMI Maine office at 800-464-5767.
Requirements met
BANGOR — Community Health and Counseling Services’ Home Health Services recently had two unannounced in-depth Medicare surveys conducted in June and July 2014 and is
announced that in both both surveys the agency was commended as deficiency-free. This means that CHCS met all the interests of the individuals who receive care and services and met an additional requirement for efficient and effective operation of both its home health and hospice programs.
For information, go to chcs-me.org.