Acadia Health Education Coalition Recognized for Service

5/26/09

 

The Acadia Health Education Coalition was the recipient of the Barbara Higgins Bodwell '45 Center for Service & Volunteerism 2007-2008 Community Partner Award. This award is presented to a business, individual, or community agency that has contributed significantly to a University of Maine student service project for at least one year. Accepting the award on April, 27, 2008, was Executive Director, Carolyn Dorrity, RN, BSN '85.

Since 2006, the Acadia Health Education Coalition has participated in the development of Medical Mission: Maine, a health professions service and training program which addresses health care deficiencies in Maine’s most rural and underserved communities. UMaine students travel to Aroostook County to participate in the health care delivery to migrant workers in collaboration with the Maine Migrant Health Program. Students also conduct mentoring sessions with area high school students related to pursuing a career in health care, as well as conduct early childhood oral health programs at Head Start and day care sites.
With the guidance of Crisanne Cadmus Blackie, Health and Legal Professions Advisor at the University of Maine, health professions students are bringing the education programs back to the greater Bangor area during the academic year, as well as expanding the programs back to their own home towns. Utilizing dental puppets, children’s books, and hands on experiences, the University of Maine students teach essential skills of proper brushing, healthy dental snacks, and safety.  The intention of this program is to introduce future health professionals to rural and underserved communities and to encourage them to consider practicing there once they complete their education. Excitement is gathering, states Dorrity, as these students return to Maine and seek opportunities to continue their mentoring and service projects in rural areas. Two UMaine graduates returning to the state from their first year of dental school at Dalhousie have already contacted us about what opportunities to serve are available in their community. It is our hope that a lifelong spirit of service is fostered by Medical Mission Maine.
This award is particularly meaningful, states Dorrity, as it recognizes the Acadia Health Education Coalition’s commitment to supporting training opportunities in health professions shortage areas. The passion for service to Maine’s most vulnerable is already ignited in the University of Maine students. Medical Mission Maine just gives the students an avenue to put their passion to work. Adding to the significance of this award was the fact that during the first two years of Medical Mission Maine, Andrew Bodwell ’07, great-nephew of Barbara Bodwell and currently enrolled in Optometry school, was an active participant and leader in the success of this project. Dorrity went on to state that the Acadia Health Education Coalition is truly honored to receive this recognition from our friends at the University of Maine.
  The activities of the Acadia Health Education Coalition are supported by the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, Maine Office of Rural Health and Primary Care (via the Maine Dept. of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention), Finance Authority of Maine (FAME), and has received Health Resource and Services Administration funding as Maine’s first AHEC Center for twenty four (24) years.