Happy Wednesday!
This is the Community Caring Collaborative Weekly Communiqué where we share announcements about trainings, meetings and other events, including announcements from our collaborative partners. Look for links to meeting minutes and agendas in the Meetings section, training registration forms and flyers in the Events section, and job postings and other items of interest in the Announcements section. Subscribe here to get the Communiqué. Make sure to add Community Caring Collaborative to your contacts at claurel@cccmaine.org. Gmail users, check for the Communiqué under the Promotions tab. This mailing goes out every Wednesday, so if you have announcements, please send them to Christine by 5 pm Monday to be included. Thanks!
Photo above: Read more about this community Thanksgiving meal and others in the announcement section below.
Announcements
Families & Youth in Transitions Conference: Save the date of March 10, 2018 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at Maine General Hospital in Augusta for Families & Youth in Transitions – a conference for families and youth with emotional and behavioral needs, special needs, and special health care needs transitioning through high school to adult life. Youth and parent workshops will be offered. Keynote speaker tba. Sponsored by the Maine Parent Federation and G.E.A.R. Parent Network.
When Grief is Complicated: Down East Hospice Volunteers will be presenting Hospice Foundation of America’s, The 24th Annual Living with Grief, Conference Series: “When Grief is Complicated,” December 14, 2017 at Down East Community Hospital’s Conference Room from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. See flyer for details. Please share this with your employees who would benefit from this program, particularly those who may be in need of CEU’s as this program provides 2.5 CEU’s for those who complete the discussion after the program.
Join the Downeast Feast’s Thanksgiving Day Potluck! November 23rd at 5 pm in Kilburn Commons at UMM – bring your family & friends for a Thanksgiving Community Potluck – see flyer for downeast feast dates through January. The Downeast Feast is a shared, free, community meal on the fourth Thursday of every month at 5 pm. The location varies. Downeast Feasts are potluck-style meals, so bring some food to share. If you can’t bring any, please come anyway! Also, if possible help us decrease waste by bringing your own place settings and a container to take home some food. If you can’t, no worries. We got you covered! Got questions? Want to host a meal? Contact Susie Maxwell at 263-6599. sjbmaxwell@gmail.com.
Volunteer Mentor Survey: The CCC is developing a flexible Mentor/Neighbor program for different types of mentor/mentee relationships, ranging from supporting someone in need with a friendly shoulder to more traditional career path mentoring and everything in between. The program designers want to hear from potential volunteer mentors to find out what their style and goal of mentoring might be, what kinds of support would help them feel comfortable committing to this role, and other concerns they might have. To that end the designers have teamed up with students in the Research Methods & Design class of UMM’s Psychology and Community Studies program to create an online survey (here’s the link) that provides opportunities for this very important feedback. Please circulate this link to anyone you know that might be interested in volunteering as a mentor. Paper copies are also available – contact Charley Martin-Berry at cmartinberry@cccmaine.org or Jen Peters at scec@sunrisecounty.org for access to a printed version. This is a short survey taking just a few minutes to complete – but the deadline to take it is December 5th so please don’t delay. Thanks so much!
Basic Skills for Caregivers: The Washington County Thriving in Place Initiative is developing a training in response to requests for help with basic caregiving skills, such as how to move an injured or frail person. Pamela Grant, a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) who works at Down East Community Hospital, has agreed to present this training and is willing to design the content around topics of particular concern to family/informal caregivers. The CCC has developed a short survey for caregivers to provide information to Pam on what they really need to learn. The survey also asks caregivers what time of day or day of the week such a training would work best. Please forward this survey link to anyone you know who is providing care to a family member or friend.
Your announcement could go here: email the details to Christine by 5 pm Monday for inclusion in Wednesday’s Weekly Communiqué.
Updates
This is where we post updates on programs, initiatives and pending legislation.
Events
Now listed chronologically, so make sure to scroll down for items just added!.
TSLCA Summit: registration for the Tri-State Learning Collaborative on Aging Summit – Driving Community Home! closes on November 20th, so don’t delay. The Summit will be held on November 28, 2017 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland, Maine from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and is designed specifically for community and municipal leaders, service and health providers, advocates and researchers who are engaged (or plan to be) in the “aging in community” movement in Northern New England.
TCM & BHH Provider Training: Child Behavioral Health Services invites targeted case managers and behavioral health homes providers to a free system overview of the state’s behavioral health services on December 4th, from 9-4 at the Houlton DHHS Office. See flyer for details.
Free Memory Screenings: the Maine Veterans’ Home in Machias is hosting free, confidential memory screenings to the public on December 6, 2017, as part of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s National Memory Screening Program. Screenings are 10 minutes by appointment from 8 am to 4:30 pm. Read the invitation and flyer for details and how to make an appointment.
Fedcap Open House: you are invited to the Open House & Ribbon Cutting ceremony of Fedcap’s new Machias office at 89 Court Street (inside the Post Office Building) on December 7th from 3-6 pm. See flyer for details.
Substance Use Training for Businesses: Following up on requests made at the Summer Addiction, Recovery & the Work Force Summit, Sunrise County Economic Council is hosting an important training for business owners and HR personnel on December 12th from 9 am to Noon at their offices at 7 Ames Way in Machias, What Employers Need to Know: Substance Use Issues 101. This free training presented by Marjorie F. Withers, LCPC, will lay the foundation for understanding substances and their impact on employees, and how to support them in recovery. To register, email Amy or call 255-0983. This event is made possible by funding from the H. King and Jean Cummings Charitable Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.
Drug-Free Workplace Discussion: Also following up on requests made at the Summer Addiction, Recovery & the Work Force Summit, Sunrise County Economic Council is hosting a free event on December 19th from 9 am to Noon at their offices at 7 Ames Way in Machias – Establishing a Drug-Free Workplace and Drug Testing Policies in Maine, presented by Amanda O’Leary, Bureau of Labor Standards. The format for this will be a discussion on how to develop these policies, the rules and requirements under Maine law, and how the new legalization of Cannabis may affect those policies. To register, email Amy or call 255-0983. This event is made possible by funding from the H. King and Jean Cummings Charitable Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.
Needs & Offers
Student Housing Needed: A homeless UMM student is in need of housing. If anyone knows of any options, please reach out to Jeanne Vose at the UMM Merrill Library, jeannep@maine.edu or 207/255-1234.
Job Offer: The Health Equity Alliance has an opening for a full-time Washington County HIV Case Manager. See full job description with information on salary, generous benefits package, and how to apply here.
Passages Giving Tree: The Washington County Passages program is collecting gifts
for their 14 children to be distributed at their yearly holiday party on December 14. The Giving Tree – location of this celebration – will be in the Merrill Library at UMM. Each card on the tree notes the age and gender of one of our student’s children. If you’d like to donate a gift, please choose a card and drop off the wrapped, labeled gift by Monday, December 11th. Please keep the gift to a maximum of $20. Thanks in advance for your generosity! For more information, contact Fern at 542-8144 or 255-1468. The Giving Tree is Sponsored by Psychology & Community Studies and Merrill Library at UMM.
Did you lose any of your food due to a power outage? If you get SNAP and lost food because you lost power,
there’s help available. You can get replacement Food Supplement benefits if you have a “household misfortune.” A federal or state disaster declaration is not required. Household misfortune includes losing food from your home if: a local or neighborhood power outage lasts 4 hours or more, or a fire, flood, or storm causes damage. Report the loss of food to DHHS at 1-855-797-4357 within 10 days of the end of the outage. You will be sent a form to fill out and return to DHHS. The sooner you get DHHS this form, the faster you will get your replacement benefits.
Needle Exchange in Machias: The Health Equity Alliance (HEAL), formerly Down East AIDS Network (DEAN), maintains a needle exchange at their local office on Tuesdays 3-6 and Fridays 10-1. HEAL also provides training along with naloxone and sponsors the annual Maine Harm Reduction conference. FMI: Katie Bragg, Case Manager/ Health Promotion Specialist, katie@mainehealthequity.org, 255-5849, 7 VIP Road, Machias, ME 04654, in the same building as Downeast Community Partners, or visit their website.
Legislation Survey: Maine Equal Justice Partners invites you to fill out a policy 
survey to help them assess how effective the legislative changes that did pass will be when it comes to reducing child poverty in Maine and to help them focus their energy in the years ahead on changes that will make the biggest difference in families’ lives.
Send us your agency/community needs or offers, such as job recruiting or housing needs.
Favorite Resources
Send us your favorite links to share with other Communique readers.
Legal Services for the Elderly: LSE provides persons age 60 and over with free legal advice regarding health care, health insurance, Medicare (including Part D), MaineCare (Medicaid), Social Security and other public benefits, pension and retirement benefits, powers of attorney, consumer matters including creditor and bankruptcy problems, physical and financial abuse, guardianship defense and other issues. Clients call the LSE toll-free number, 1-800-750-5353, and talk with a Helpline attorney. If the Helpline attorney is unable to resolve a client’s issue, the client then is referred to a staff attorney at the LSE office which is situated closest to the client’s town for extended representation.
Meetings
Work Group & Poverty Busters: Next meeting is on December 6th from 1 — 3:30 in the large conference room at SCEC – RSVP to Christine if you plan to attend.
St Croix Community Connections: This is Poverty Buster’s sister group in Calais, organized by Christine Morris. This group meets monthly – new members welcome!
Bad Little Falls, Machias