Adrienne Gallant, Community Wellness Specialist
Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County General Hospital
The Community Health and Wellness (CH&W) Department at Pen Bay Medical Center (PBMC) and Waldo County General Hospital (WCGH) have a history of offering community-based programming and classes through Journey to Health. Under the leadership of the new director, Jemma Penberthy, the department is planning future classes to help improve the health and wellness of people who live in Waldo and Knox counties. Jemma comes to us with a background in nursing, public health, and community health. She is excited to be here and for her and her team to forge new relationships in Waldo County.
As we continue to develop our programming, please feel free to connect with us through our current offerings:
Advance Care Planning: Advance care planning is an organized process of reflecting upon and discussing goals for future health care decisions. It is an important part of creating an advance directive, which is a written plan that represents your individual preferences and tells others what medical care you want or do not want to receive if you become too ill in the future to tell them. Work with one of our trained Advance Care Planning facilitators or attend a workshop to begin the process of filling out your advance directive.
Happy Wanderers Guided Hikes (a partnership with Coastal Mountains Land Trust): Join the Community Health Improvement team and Coastal Mountains Land Trust with guided hikes this year. All levels are welcome. This group will meet at trailheads throughout Knox and Waldo counties on the first Thursday of each month. The next hike is scheduled for Thursday, October 6, 10 a.m. to noon at Long Cove Headwaters in Searsport.
Take a Break with Guided Meditation (online): Making time in your day to recharge and offer yourself the gift of presence is important for your well-being and can be as simple as tuning in for this virtual class. Find a quiet spot and sign in for as much of this short meditation break as you can. The class will begin with a 15-20 minute guided meditation, followed by 5 minutes of silent meditation and a brief time for reflections/questions.
Cooking Matters at the Store (online): Want to learn how to stretch your dollars at the store? This class provides a culinary-enhanced nutrition education program that teaches participants how to plan, budget and shop for meals that are healthy, tasty and low in cost. All participants will receive a recipe booklet and a $10 Hannaford gift card.
If you would like to receive PBMC and WCGH monthly electronic events newsletter please sign up at https://www.mainehealth.org/Pen-Bay-Medical-Center/About
For more information or to register please go to www.journeytohealth.coursestorm.com or call 207-301-3950.
We look forward to hearing from you!
A note from the editor of Village-Wise…I am pleased to let our readers know that several AWWC members and myself met with Adrienne Gallant and Jemma Penberthy to discuss future collaborations between Community Health and Wellness and AWWC. Dr. Chris Morin and myself will be meeting soon to continue discussions. We’re all very excited about this new collaboration. Also, we look forward to articles from members of Community Health and Wellness that will appear in each of our quarterly issues of Village-Wise. Jan Kristo, Editor