Archive for July, 2012

Blood Drive Monday, August 6 at St. Mary’s

Monday, July 30th, 2012

The American Red Cross will be holding a Blood Drive on Monday, August 6, 2012 from 7:00am – 12:00pm in the Lepage Large Conference Center. All presenting donors will receive a collectable Red Sox t-shirt. Please call the American Red Cross at 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to make an appointment. You can also email Jenny Cowie or call the Volunteer office 777-8368.

Blood donations through the American Red Cross are at the lowest they have been in 15 years. A public appeal in late June briefly stopped the decline, but the effect was temporary and the situation remains tenuous. There continues to be an emergency need for all blood types this summer.

With your support, we can reverse the decline in donations and ensure an adequate blood supply for patients all summer long. We ask you to increase your outreach to donors of all blood types and

recruit at least three more donors than you were expecting to your blood drive in July. That could be all it takes to ensure an adequate blood supply for the rest of the summer.

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Annual Hearts United Employee Campaign at St. Mary’s . . . Why we Give!

Monday, July 30th, 2012

The d’Youville Fund for the Needy, one of the many special purpose funds we can contribute to during the Annual Hearts United Employee Campaign, helped me. I was a full time student, a full time worker here, and the mom of a one year old. I needed to desperately get out of an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, I was not earning a great deal. Like most abused women I was financially stuck. With hesitation, I applied for help. And I was granted money to put a security deposit down on a new apartment for my daughter and I. This is one of the many reasons why I give. I am proud to give.

Anonymous
SMHS employee

The Oncology Support Fund and the donations to it from the Annual Employee Hearts United Campaign has been a critical resource for some of our patients with cancer. An example of how important this support is, is the story of one gentleman who became unable to work due to his cancer diagnosis and had no health insurance. He was also challenged at the time with caring for his mother who was also very ill. He required tube feedings, which are very costly without insurance to pay for them. At this juncture he had become unable to eat safely by mouth. We accessed the Oncology Support Fund to purchase him several cases of tube feedings and needed medications to bridge this resource gap until his insurance and disability applications were processed and decided upon. We make every effort to reserve these funds for the neediest of our patients, attempting to fulfill their needs and request via other means, and the Support Fund was the perfect solution for this gentleman to get the nutrition and medication he needed in a very short period of time.

Maura Clark, LCSW
Oncology Social Worker
Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders

If you are interested in making a donation or would like more information, please call St. Mary’s Development Office at 207-777-8863 or visit us on the web.

 

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July is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

Bladder cancer forms in the tissues of the bladder. Most bladder cancers begin in the cells that make up the lining of the bladder and can be a result of chronic irritation and inflammation.

You may not know it, but bladder cancer is the fifth most common form of cancer in the United States. More than 70,000 Americans were diagnosed with the disease last year, and nearly 15,000 died from it. New research shows a big problem may be that almost no one gets the recommended treatment.

People who smoke are four times as prone to bladder cancer as nonsmokers. About half of bladder cancer cases in women age 50 and are now traceable to smoking, up from 20 or 30 percent in earlier decades. This finding means that women have now caught up to men in the percentage of bladder cancers attributable to cigarettes.

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The Seventh Annual Chefs Soirée

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012

Savor the Essence of Downtown

The Cuisine.  The Culture.  The People.

Celebrate French, Greek and Indian cuisine, local products
and local businesses.
Please come and watch the demonstrations, taste amazing food and
embrace creative, local change of downtown Lisbon Street!

Save the Date!

Friday, September 14, 2012 – 5:30 PM

For more information, please contact Mary Ellingwood at 755-3366, or email mellingwood@stmarysmaine.com.

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New Provider Joins St. Mary’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

7/20/12

St. Mary’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders is pleased to announce a new addition to its team. Gregory S. Emmons, DO will join hematologists and oncologists Mahesh Pandey, MD and Yelena Patsiornik, MD. Dr. Emmons earned his medical degree from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in Biddeford, Maine. He completed residency in Internal Medicine at Maine Medical Center in Portland and a dual fellowship in hematology and oncology at Baystate Medical Center, the western campus of Tufts University School of Medicine located in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Dr. Emmons, a native of Richmond, Maine, has recently returned to the area with his wife and young son. His experience and knowledge will advance the quality cancer care in the community.

To learn more about St. Mary’s center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, please visit us on the web or call (207) 777-4420.

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Childhood Hunger…Why We Give!

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Summer should be a time of fun in the sun for children; but it’s not for many! School has ended and the access to at least one full meal, sometimes two a day, is gone. Summer is a time when working parents, especially single parents, have to manage increased child care needs/expenses and an increased call for a full refrigerator. However, for many people who are having a hard time making ends meet during the school year, in the summer it becomes impossible to achieve. At St. Mary’s Food Pantry we see moms walk in with all of their children at this time of year. Grandparents begin to appear looking for food for their grandchildren. St. Mary’s, with the support of church groups, businesses/corporations and many community volunteers, tries to keep the pantry shelves full but the challenge is becoming harder and harder to meet. In the last year the increased cost of food coupled with a still somewhat stagnant economy has resulted in less food distributed to an ever growing group of people in need. Each year the dollars the pantry receives from the Annual Hearts United Employee Campaign gives the pantry the boost it needs to help make it through another year. Thank you to all. We couldn’t do it without you!

Joyce Gagnon

St. Mary’s Food Pantry Manager

Our employees give generously to this program through our annual St. Mary’s Hearts United Campaign, but the need is still great. To make a contribution, click here.  Thank you!

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St. Mary’s HIV/AIDS Case Management: Its Many Needs and How They Can Be Filled

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

The “wish list” for the HIV/AIDS Program would be to have the ability to buy as many food cards and personal care items as our clients need. Clients currently have access to one $30 food card a month. With more than 90 clients, the need is great! In today’s economy $30, as you well know, does not go far.

A few years ago the program received a donation of $100 from Father Seavey. We decided the best way to make sure it went to good use was to ask a client what she thought. The client said, “Lori you will laugh at me if I tell you…” Once I assured her this would not happen, she said “…we really need toilet paper”. The full $100 was used to purchase toilet paper for the clients. It was at this point that I started the personal care shelves, a pantry so to speak, to help clients in need of personal care items. Our “pantry” has grown and so has the number of clients accessing it. We try to have the following items available: toilet paper, soap, shaving cream, razors, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, denture tablets and adhesive, tissues, paper towels, detergent, bleach and other cleaning supplies. We are the only program in Maine that has made these items available to their clients. Client satisfaction is extremely important to us. We often hear, “Thank God you have these things….don’t know how we would make it without the help of your program. Some days it’s hard enough to take care of myself and get enough food to eat, never mind these supplies that I really need too”. As was the mission for St. Marguerite d’ Youville those many years ago, it is still our mission today…….to serve those in need.

Contributions made through St. Mary’s Hearts United Employee Campaign as well as donations of any kind are most helpful as we continue to try to meet our client needs and to help them maintain a good and safe quality of life.

Lori Jacques, RN, CCM

Case Management Department

Our employees give generously to this program through our annual Hearts United campaign, but the need is still great. To make a contribution, click here.

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St. Mary’s Women’s Health Associates Welcomes New OB/GYN

Monday, July 9th, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7/05/12

Richard Summermatter, MD, FACOG has joined the obstetricians, midwives, gynecologists and a urogynecologist at St. Mary’s Women’s Health Associates in Lewiston. Dr. Summermatter brings decades of experience to the practice. Most recently he was employed at Western Maine OB/GYN.

Dr. Summermatter earned his medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham, Alabama. He completed his internship and residency at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine.

While in private practice in Buffalo, New York, Dr. Summermatter became the first provider in the city to perform many types of laparoscopic procedures. He is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He is a member of the following professional organizations: the American Association of Gynecological Laparoscopics, American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Medical Society of the State of Maine. 

Dr. Summermatter is accepting new patients at St. Mary’s Women’s Health Associates at 330 Sabattus Street in Lewiston. To make an appointment, please call 777-4300.

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