Movie Night to benefit Aroostook Cancer Care
A group of Fort Fairfield Middle/High School students is learning the importance of giving back to its community by supporting the county’s premier cancer care service. The seventh-graders are hosting a fun evening to raise money for Aroostook Cancer Care at TAMC. The students, mostly 13-year-olds, discussed several different fund-raiser ideas before settling on a Movie Night Friday, Feb. 28 in the school cafeteria. They will be hosting a showing of “Despicable Me II,” complete with popcorn and drinks. Students who attend will pay $6 for the event, and the proceeds will go to Aroostook Cancer Care.
“This is a student project,” said Sharon Kozura, adviser for the student group. “January was community service month for our adviser groups in the middle/high school. Each group was to pick a project. The entire seventh grade spent an hour sorting food at a local food bank, but my group wanted to do something different on their own.”
The event required some planning, but once word was out about the fundraiser, the students had some help.
“Walmart has donated the money to buy drinks for the event, and the school’s athletic department will be donating the popcorn. The business department in the school let them print out color posters to advertise,” said Kozura.
Each year, the adviser groups at Fort Fairfield Middle/High School choose projects, and this is the first time Aroostook Cancer Care has been the beneficiary of their community spirit. Kozura said a family member of one of the students in the group received treatment and that may have been a factor in the group’s choice to donate their event proceeds to the organization.
Brenda A. Baker, RN, manager of Aroostook Cancer Care, first heard about the project a couple weeks ago, and the idea of a group of young teenagers considering the organization as their project beneficiary moved her in unexpected ways.
“I think it is fantastic, but it also saddens me a bit as it shows just how much cancer affects everyone, even the children in our communities,” she said.
There are two ways in which donations such as this benefit Aroostook Cancer Care.
“First we often receive donations to our unit, which in the past have been used to purchase patient care items which are beneficial to the comfort and safety of our patients, such as new treatment chairs,” said Baker. “Second, we have recently set up a patient assistance fund that is in the final stages of being implemented, and these monies will be used to assist patients with cancer-related travel, lodging and other costs.”
The funds being donated by the Fort Fairfield students will be used to bolster the new patient support fund.
Community invited to ‘run and plunge’ for a worthy cause
While people from all over the globe converge on Presque Isle for the IBU World Youth/Junior Biathlon Championships, an event of another kind will be taking place at TAMC, and the hospital is inviting the community to help “Welcome the World” as they celebrate with its fourth annual Red Dress Race and Polar Dip.
Instead of the shooting and skiing that will be occurring across town at the biathlon championships, participants in the Red Dress Race and Polar Dip, which will take place Friday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m., will be running and plunging. Participants will meet in front of the Crown Ambulance base at the A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital campus prior to the start of the race.
This unique event is part of TAMC’s annual Winter Carnival activities, which this year has a special “Welcome the World” theme as a nod to the athletes from the many visiting nations that will be competing in the biathlon. New this year, TAMC is opening up the event to the community and inviting the public to pair up into teams of two to compete for a worthy cause.
“I feel the Red Dress Race/Polar Dip is the highlight of Winter Carnival — from the creative red dresses to the lucky partner taking a cool dip. This year, we are excited to open this to the community to join us for a little friendly competition to help us raise money for wellness efforts,” said Gina Ritchie, event coordinator.
The event requires teams to wear red dresses in support of February being Heart Health Month. Since one of the two $100 prizes is awarded to the team with the best costume, TAMC encourages participants to use their creativity and even get a little crazy with their outfits. The team that finishes first will earn the second $100 prize.
Participants in the event will complete a registration form and then solicit sponsors to raise funds for internal employee wellness programs at TAMC. One partner will complete a run around the hospital campus, and when that teammate crosses the finish line, the other person will take a chilly dunk into a tank of water courtesy of the Presque Isle Fire Department.
“It’s really rewarding and humbling to know that with just a small time commitment (of about 10 minutes), I can play a role in helping improve TAMC wellness efforts, while also giving back to a great organization. Frankly, it’s a lot of fun, as well,” said Linda Maynard, who placed second with her team in last year’s race.
To register or for more information, visit tamc.org. Registration forms are also available for pick up at the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce office, located on the Houlton Road in Presque Isle.
Expanded health center hours offer convenience during flu season
As flu season is underway, TAMC is reminding the public that there are new, expanded hours at its health centers in Caribou, Fort Fairfield and Mars Hill to provide added convenience to people who need the services that those clinics offer.
The new hours, which were implemented as a permanent expansion in 2013, include evening appointments until 6 p.m. at both the Fort Fairfield and Caribou health centers on Tuesdays. The normal office hours for those locations are from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and now from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on Tuesdays. Lab draw services start at 7:30 a.m. each day in Fort Fairfield and at 8 a.m. in Caribou.
The Mars Hills Health Center expanded hours are on Thursdays, with the office clinic opening at 7:30 a.m. for lab draws and the doctor seeing patients from 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Beyond the expanded hours on Thursdays, normal daily hours at the Mars Hill Health Center are Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
“Expanded hours provide additional access to routine and acute care appointments outside of regular business hours,” said Darcy Walsh, manager of the Mars Hill Health Center.
TAMC Health Centers provide local access to a variety of primary care needs, from routine examinations to preventative and acute care, as well as lab draw services. The centers also offer access to mental health, diabetes education and care coordination services.
“We hope patients take advantage of our evening access hours and choose to call our practices when they need to have an appointment,” said Kerry Spooner, manager of the Fort Fairfield and Caribou health centers.
“When our patients have the option of going to their primary care provider rather than having to use the emergency department after hours for their routine medical care, it benefits all of us,” she said. “It increases the quality of care for our patients, and decreases the cost overall cost of their care, as well.”
