Appreciates AMHC crisis unit staff
To the editor:
There’s a little-known powerhouse in Presque Isle across Main Street from UMPI. It’s in a two-story residential looking building, and is commonly “referred to by AMHC (Aroostook Mental Health Center) clinics throughout Aroostook” as ACSU (Adult Crisis Stabilization Unit).
I was a 10-day guest there twice over my former 20-year client relationship with AMHC. My coming out of two hellish situations, the staff there still shines in my mind as wingless, Earth-bound, duty-devoted angels by contrast.
Why am I bringing this up five years after my last stay there? Because gratitude and admiration have a way of ballooning in the subconscious by the winds of time until finally the balloon must burst and send forth its seeds like dandelion parachutists dropping in on the hairy lawns of the Northeast Publishing editors.
ACSU is an inpatient service of AMHC for people who have been overwhelmed by a situational crisis, and need a safety net to jump into before a nervous breakdown puts them into a hospital psychiatric ward, while the ACSU staff mediates with the source of their crisis.
The ACSU staff also maintains the suicide prevention telephone hotline with sympathetic hearts and wisely trained minds. This creation of AMHC is a real powerhouse in the County. And so is AMHC. I ought to know — after 20 years of soul rescue by their community support counselors. Thank you.
Val Vardamis
Westfield
