Androscoggin Home Healthcare + Hospice Recognized by Home Care & Hospice Alliance of ME
Androscoggin Home Healthcare and Hospice was recognized with two awards from the Home Care & Hospice Alliance of Maine on November 1, at the Blaine House in Augusta. The local non-profit was honored with the Media Award for their “Life Happens” video, and David Blocher took home a Volunteer of the Year Award for his work within the organization.
David Blocher, Volunteer, and Ken Albert, President and CEO, proudly display their Alliance awards.
The Home Care & Hospice Alliance of Maine is a statewide non-profit trade association that annually recognizes organizations within the industry for exceptional work. The Media Award is presented to an individual or group recognizing an outstanding contribution to the health of Maine residents living at home through the use of television, radio, newspapers, or magazines. Androscoggin’s “Life Happens” video highlights the agency’s Life Happens program, which is funded by donors and staff, to help meet the needs and wants of patients that are not otherwise met by insurance or local resources. “Androscoggin is an organization about living,” said Ken Albert, President and CEO of Androscoggin Home Healthcare and Hospice. “We not only want to meet our patients’ medical needs but their mental, emotional and spiritual needs as well. Our staff is deeply committed to improving their patients’ quality of life. That’s why we started the Life Happens fund.”
Ken Albert, President and CEO, accepts the Media Award from the Home Care and Hospice Alliance of Maine
The Hospice Volunteer of the Year Award is presented to a person who supports the activities of hospice in an unpaid role, volunteers regularly and is well received by fellow volunteers, patients, and families. David Blocher, a Hospice Volunteer for Androscoggin Home Healthcare and Hospice, was presented with the Alliance’s 2018 recognition. Blocher, a long-time volunteer for the organization, visits patients in their homes and at nursing facilities, sits vigil with dying patients, volunteers with the choir and helps organize bedside sings as a choir leader. Blocher also presents at hospice volunteer training, to share his experiences and insights with newly minted volunteers. Blocher is a veteran volunteer who visits patients in their homes and performs pinning ceremonies to honor dying veterans for their military service. Kathy Baillargeon, Manager of Volunteer Resources, said that Blocher “is always the first to sign-up for additional training to hone his skills as a hospice volunteer. He is the first person to step up to the plate on new initiatives, and we couldn’t be more proud to nominate such a deserving person for this award.”
David Blocher, Volunteer of the Year award recipient, listens with his wife, Helen, as the Home Care and Hospice Alliance of Maine reads his nomination.
