Be
A Warren Center Hearing Aide!
Because
the reputation of our excellent audiology services keeps
growing, we’ve discorvered that we need
to expand our audiology department in order to continue offering
the quality of services our clients are used to. Basically,
we’re just getting too popular! Our Regional Hearing
Aid Bank program has grown in the last year (we placed 17 hearing
aids to people in need for free, and we still have a long waiting
list.) We remain the only site in Maine where a cochlear implant
can be programmed. In addition we have clients of all ages
coming for central auditory processing evaluations, hearing
exams, hearing aids, and hearing aid repairs. However, that
means that in order to keep up our good work with our current
clients, and offer great services in a timely manner to new
clients, we need to do some expanding.
Basically
what we need is a) one audiologist (and we have one who would
love to come work for us this fall!)
and b) a second audiology suite (fully installed and equipped
- the audiology booth, valued at $10,000.00, has already been
donated.) To do this, we need $80,253.75. Yes, it’s a
large amount of money! However, this amount will cover the
entire first year of the audiology expansion, and then the
program will be able to fund itself. And it will give us more
opportunities to be available in the community, educating people
of all ages on hearing health. It also gives us an even greater
opportunity to focus on programs like the Regional Hearing
Aid Bank, enable us to offer free hearing screenings more frequently
and allow us to continue to offer our client-centered audiology
services. We don’t want to have waiting lists and long
waits for appointments; one of the things our clients like
best is our ability to see them without much waiting. An expanded
audiology program helps us help you and the entire community!
There’s a bulleted list on the inside of
the newsletter which gives the details of the campaign and
we’ve included a return envelope. Please consider giving
- if you’ve never been a Warren Center donor, now is
the perfect time to invest in Bangor’s oldest, not-for-profit
speech and hearing center. If you have any questions, you can
call us at the Warren Center at 941-2850 and we’ll answer
them. Thank you for your support - we are your Center after
all!
"Music
in the Night" May 10th Thanks!
The “Music in the Night” concert was a great time
for those who attended. Those who didn’t missed a great
show! Big thanks to Robert Ford who wowed the crowd with gorgrous
classical pieces; Noel Walsh & Joe Gates for their enthusiastic
playing and singing of original music; and Michael Billings
for his blues and updated rendition of traditional music for
lute and for being the ad-hoc lighting designer. Thanks also
to the Union Street Brick Church and all those folks who helped
out: Danielle Trembley; Kria Sakakeeny; Jessica Bloch; Ray
Gibouleau, and special thanks to board member Virginia Putnam
for her amazing chocolate chip squares!
The
Voices to be Heard Yard Sale raised $860.00!
The Voices to be
Heard Yard Sale wouldn’t have been
possible without the help of many people! EXTRA Special thanks
to Seaboard Fedral Credit Union in Bucksport for being the
sponsor of the Kiss 94.5 live broadcast during the yard sale!
And board members Jim Nason, Elna Campbell-Wade & Wayne
Woodford; Nelson Jewel and Wendy from Kiss 94.5; Warren Center
Staffers Amy & Ron Bragg; MaryBeth Richards; Mary Poulin;
Cheryl Hewes; Theresa Amos; Amanda Samoluk; Kylie Spratt; Priscilla
Parsons; Mark Nilan; the Pinkham Family; Grace Methodist Church
for tables; Sharon Gray; Deborah Paradis; Julie Casburn; Trudy
Bacon; Robin Foster & Family; and Dr. John Mabee. And the
Bangor Daily News and The Weekly for adding us to their calendars
and all those who donated items for the sale or were business
sponsors.
Notes
from the Administrative Director…
Recently I overheard
a conversation in which the speaker said, “Participation
is what it’s all about.” In my head it was immediately
translated to “participation is what the Warren Center
is all about.”
Whether it is speech
pathology or audiology, our goal is to help our clients fully
participate in their own lives…in
their families, in school, in the workplace, and in their healthcare.
In order to participate fully in life, we must understand others
and have a means to allow them to understand us. Sometimes
all that is needed is some help with articulating sounds. After
a stroke it may be help with remembering or retrieving a word.
Sometimes a person can communicate clearly to others but needs
a hearing aid to be able to understand.
Isolation is the saddest and most common result when one loses
the ability to participate by communicating with others. At
the Warren Center our employees are committed to finding ways
to allow everyone to enjoy and participate fully in all life
has to offer.
Thank you all who participate by support this work we do.
Mary E. Poulin
Bangor’s
AmeriCorps - the poster children of dedication and service!
Once again, we have
many thanks to give Bangor’s amazing
AmeriCorps team! In mid-July the team hit the Warren Center
with paintbrushes in hand to paint a therapy room and fix up
some holes in the sheetrock in other places in the building.
They mounted a nice pegboard in the lobby for us to use. They
fixed the cement steps in the front of the building, which
were crumbling in places after a year of wear and tear (they
get more use since the AmeriCorps made a path to the stairs
last summer!) As this newsletter is being written, they’re
repainting parking lot lines! And they continue to ask us what
they can do to help us! Our community is incredibly lucky to
have such a great group of dedicated and talented young people.
We can’t thank them enough!
Meet
the Staff
We’re sending out a big Warren Center Welcome to Gerry
Gross, M.A., CCC-SLP who joined us this August! This newsletter
we get an introduction, in her own words! Be sure to say “hello!” to
her when you see her in the office!
In her own words:
I am originally from Detroit, Michigan. I went to the University
of Michigan for an undergraduate degree in Medical Technology,
and worked in that field for ten years before retiring to raise
my two daughters, Claire and Lucy. Claire has one more year
at Wellesley College, and Lucy will be a freshman at Bowdoin
college in the fall.
After Ann Arbor, Michigan, I lived in Burlington, Vermont,
for four years, and finally settled in Maine, a place I am
very happy to call home. A few years ago, I was taking classes
at the University of Maine, trying to figure out what to do
with the rest of my life, and happened upon Introduction to
Communications Sciences and Disorders. The rest is history.
I am very excited to join the staff at the Warren Center and
participate in the good work that goes on here. Thank you all
for making me feel so welcome.
- Gerry Gross
Colleen
Nilan Awarded ACE Award by the
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Colleen Nilan, M.S., CCC-SLP, a speech-language pathologist
at the Warren Center, was recently presented an Award for Continuing
Education by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
(ASHA) Continuing Education Board.
ASHA grants ACE awards to those who have made a concerted
effort to continue professional learning beyond an academic
degree, earning at least seven continuing education units in
under three years. Colleen joins a select group of professionals
who have committed themselves to lifelong learning and maintaining
current knowledge and skills.
Originally from Nebraska, Colleen lives in Bangor with her
husband, Mark, who is a great Warren Center volunteer himself!
Congratulations Colleen on keeping up with everything new in
the world of speech!
Eastern
Agency on Aging Caregiver's Tea
The Warren Center
had a table at the Eastern Agency on Aging’s “Caregiver’s
Tea” in June attended by MaryBeth Richards and Monique
Gibouleau. The event, held at the Lucerne Inn, was a relaxing
and celebratory look at being a caregiver. The program featured
many dynamic speakers and offered caregivers in the area an
opportunity to learn about programs which can help them - like
our Coping with Memory Disorders through Communication Program.
Find out more about the program online at www.warrencenter.org
website!
Good
luck Theresa!
This August we bid
a sad farewell to Theresa Amos! Theresa will begin working
in the Dover-Foxcroft schools as their speech
teacher. They’re really lucky to get her, and we’ll
miss here here at the Warren Center.
Get
Well Soon Cheryl!
Our beloved bookeeper
and office manager, Cheryl Hewes, is recovering from an illness
- and we’ve missed her! Plus,
things get a little crazy around here without her...so come
back soon! We need you!
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