CARIBOU, Maine — Aroostook Mental Health Center (AMHC) celebrated their 50th anniversary with their 2014 Service Awards on Nov. 7. AMHC employees, board members and members of the community gathered in the banquet room of the Caribou Inn and Convention Center to honor the mental health agency for their service throughout Aroostook County for the last half-century.
The event highlighted a number of AMHC’s achievements throughout The County since their inception in 1964, and since 2009, AMHC has begun crossing county lines to further their services in Hancock and Washington counties.
On Friday, AMHC CEO Gregory Disy, President of the board of directors Frank McElwain along with fellow members of both AMHC’s senior leadership team and board of directors expressed their gratitude for the service and dedication of not only 44 current staff members receiving awards for five, 10, 20 or even 30 years of service, but all past employees who have dedicated a significant portion of their lives to continue AMHC’s mission, which they claim is “to provide integrated health care services that maximize an individual’s potential to recover and improve their quality of life.”
“AMHC reaches a significant milestone in 2014: 50 years of service to our communities. AMHC was born in 1964 out of the efforts of the then Aroostook County Health Council. Over the past five decades, AMHC has grown and developed into an agency that offers a comprehensive continuum of behavioral health and social services in our home county, Aroostook, and in Hancock and Washington counties,” said Disy.
In the words of AMHC’s first executive director, Bob Vickers, “Prior to the inception of Aroostook Mental Health Center, no mental health services were available in all of Aroostook County. People in need of services either went without or went to Bangor. It was out of this desperate need that the Aroostook Mental Health Center was born. It was a commitment to providing services to people in need that was a primary tenet in the development of the center. Another tenet was the provision of a broad range of services to meet the needs of many different populations: the chronically mentally ill, the acutely mentally ill, families and children with mental health problems, the alcoholics, the families of alcoholics and education regarding mental health to the general population.”
Disy continued by praising the AMHC staff for their dedicated work that directly reflected the commitment and compassion of Vickers.
“Our greatest reward from the work that we do is helping others and to be recognized as a trusted service provider made up of caring individuals working together to make a difference in the lives of others,” said Disy. “The most reliable, consistent factor contributing to AMHC’s success over these many years is the compassion and commitment to service exhibited by staff, leadership, board members and community members to meet the needs of children, youth, adults and families in need of service.”
Five-year service award recipients on Friday included Tammy Barnhart, Annie Beckham, Tony Bennett, Brahim Bethi, Samantha Call, Sharon Carroll, Wayne Chick, Bruce Cook, Steven Dawson, Ricky Devoe, Brandy Dubay, Tricia Farrell, Ann Marie Flood, Ken Frost, Melodie Greene, Tonia Griffin, Colby Hallowell, Rebecca Harding, Judith Hudson, Troy Lee, Adeline McCarty, Shelley McPherson, Jami Moreside, Debra O’Neill, Ruth Osborne, Gaston Pelletier, Jason Redding, Katherine Rice, Sandra Saul, Cathy Sawtelle, Cynthia Scott, Richard Shute, Lauren Simpson, Kristen Smith, Linda Stevens, Lisa Tirrell and Mary Waycott.
10-year service award recipients were Clem Devoe, Ann Pelletier and Pam Wyman.
15-year service award recipients included Lydia Christie, Jemelie Durepo and Jaime Owens.
Board member Dick Marston received a 20-year service award and Sylvio DuBois was the one AMHC employee to receive a 30-year service award.
“Because of all of you, AMHC has successfully worked through countless health care policy, practice and funding changes in 50 years and has consistently come through it stronger and more committed than ever to achieving our founding purpose,” Disy added.
“We have grown from a staff of four in 1964 to more than 300 in 2014. When we received our first staffing grant in 1970, we served 1,600 individuals with a budget of $600,000. In 1989 at our 25-year mark, we provided almost 3,000 with treatment (and more than 5,000 with educational services) on a budget of $4.3 million,” Disy said. “This past year, we served 7,653 with a $16 million budget. While the cost of care has certainly risen over the years, so has the quality of care and technological advances that drive that cost of care. Because of the policy, practice and funding changes we embrace to meet customer needs, our level of service to the community is welcomed and met with a high level of satisfaction. AMHC services are given high marks by our customers and referral sources alike.”
The final award of the night was the Vickers Excellence Award, which is awarded to an AMHC employee for their distinguished service and commitment to the agency’s mission. The recipient of the Vickers Excellence Award was Jason Cyr.
As AMHC looks ahead to the next year, Disy explained that he has no doubt the agency will continue their longstanding tradition of excellent service to all three communities.
“As we go forward into our 51st year of service to our communities, I look forward to AMHC continuing its very rich history of being a center of excellence, and a progressive leader in the delivery of behavioral health services,” said Disy. “We will continue to focus our operations and development initiatives on ensuring that our clients are provided the highest level of quality customer service with the level of loyalty to the agency’s mission that I see evidence of by our staff everyday. I have every degree of confidence that we will have another successful year.”
