Lee to provide behavioral health services at Madison Area Health Center

Danna Lee, LCSW, has joined Madison Area Health Center, providing behavioral health services that focus on the total person and assist patients at difficult crossroads across the lifecycle, according to a press release from the health center.

The Madison providers will recommend patients to Lee and she will meet with them right in the health center. She will work with patients on issues that influence their overall health such as coping with a new diagnosis, parenting skill development, or managing a chronic condition, according to the release.

Lee earned a master’s degree in social work degree from University of Maine in 2011. Her areas of expertise include aging, quality of life issues, end of life issues and impact of beliefs on behavior.

“As a clinician I strive to understand each consumer as an individual and as a part of her or his particular social environment,” Lee said in the release. “I believe my international and intercultural experience has enhanced my ability to engage in clinical practice with an open mind and ability to hear each unique voice of the individuals our health center serves and I look forward to working collaboratively with other providers in this primary care setting to address the broad range of needs and concerns of our community members.”

Lee joins physician Nancy Knapp and family nurse practitioner JoHanna Davis. The health center provides a full range of primary care and preventive services to over 1,900 children, adolescents and adults from Madison and surrounding towns including Anson, Norridgewock, and Starks.

Madison Area Health Center Health Center is part of HealthReach Community Health Centers.

SVH’s Margolskee elected to ACP fellowship

Family care lead physician Howard Margolskee, MD, of Sebasticook Family Health has been elected to a fellowship in the American College of Physicians. Margolskee’s achievement is the result of his efforts in ongoing professional education, active participation as an ACP member and his leadership of SVH Family Care’s staff of 11 providers, according to a press release from SVH.

SVH Chief Medical Officer Robert Schlager, MD, said in the release, “Achieving the ACP fellowship reflects Dr. Margolskee’s personal integrity, superior competence, professional accomplishments and commitment to the internal medicine community.”

The American College of Physicians is a national organization of internists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults, according to the release. Achieving the ACP fellowship represents a high level of integrity, professionalism, and scholarship in medicine, as well as clinical excellence and contributions made to medicine and to the broader community where the physician lives and practices. Since the mid-Seventies, over 35,000 physicians have earned fellowships from the ACP.

The Maine Arts Commission hires Nelson as director

Linda Nelson has been named assistant director of the Maine Arts Commission. Nelson is the founding executive director of Opera House Arts in Stonington and will assume her new position in May.

She has more than 25 years of experience working in nonprofit organizations, the media industry and the corporate world and has demonstrated the experience needed to assist the agency to move to the next level, according to the release.

She was a commission member of the arts commission from 2006 to 2010.

As the assistant director of the commission, Nelson will be responsible for the agency’s day-to-day operations, including budgeting, strategic planning and human resources, according to the release.

The commission will unveil its five-year cultural strategic plan in April, according to the release.

“I am thrilled to have Linda join our team,” said Executive Director Jule Richard in the release. “She will be instrumental in helping us implement our new cultural strategic plan. Her energy and knowledge will add greatly to an already dynamic Maine Arts Commission staff.”

Nelson’s work at Opera House Arts and her love of Maine will help her with her job at the Commission, the release noted. She is familiar with the role that arts play in the communities of Maine and the impact of the work of the Maine Arts Commission within those communities. “The arts are hugely important to Maine’s vitality and future, and I am honored and excited to join the team at the commission to advance the arts equitably statewide,” said Nelson in the release.

The Maine Arts Commission is a state agency that receives money appropriated by the Legislature, as well as money from the National Endowment for the Arts and other federal sources.

MaineGeneral Health names DeMerchant, Joseph and Emmons to its board

MaineGeneral Health recently elected new members to its board of directors. Joining the board are Vassalboro resident Cathy DeMerchant and Fairfield resident Joey Joseph, according to a press release from the organization. Elissa Emmons of Richmond will join the board in February.

Stephanie Calkins, MD, of Oakland was elected board chair. Calkins is a family medicine physician at MaineGeneral’s Four Seasons Family Practice in Fairfield. She succeeds William Sprague of Manchester, who held that position since January 2012.

DeMerchant has been president and co-owner of Capital Area Staffing Solutions Inc. in Augusta and Bangor since 2003. A graduate of Cony High School, she has been a member of the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar since 2012 and treasurer of the Maine Staffing Association since 2010.

She also is board president for the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and is an active member of the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce, National Rifle Association, Society for Human Resource Management, American Staffing Association, Maine Staffing Association, Kennebec Valley Human Resource Association, Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Advisory Council.

Joseph is president of Cold Brook Saab/Cold Brook Mitsubishi in Skowhegan. A graduate of Waterville High School and the University of Maine, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in public management, he joined Cold Brook Saab in 1988 and opened Cold Brook Mitsubishi in September 2013.

Emmons is general manager and vice president of Charlie’s Honda in Augusta. A 2003 graduate of the University of Maine, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, Emmons also graduated from the National Automobile Dealers Association’s Dealer Academy in McLean, Va. in 2004. She and her father, Charlie Schuman, bought the Honda dealership in 2005 and she has managed it since its opening.

Emmons has served on community boards including the United Way of Kennebec Valley, Maine Children’s Trust and Kennebec Valley Humane Society.

Also on MaineGeneral’s board of directors are: Peter Alfond, Douglas Cutchin, Peter Guzzetti, David Hay, Chuck Hays, Jeffrey Hubert, Mark Johnston, Janice Arno Kassman, James LaLiberty, Barbara Mayer, Roy Miller, Gary Peachey, Gordon Pow, Tobi Schneider and William Sprague.

Agricultural Development Grants announced

Agricultural Development Grant Program awards totaling more than $422,855 were announced this month at the recent Maine Agricultural Trades Show.

The 11 preliminary selections were chosen by a review committee from 47 proposals submitted in response to a formal request for proposals in November. The projects address needs in the agricultural industry for accelerating new market development, adoption of improved technology and promotion of agricultural products produced in Maine.

Central Maine projects selected include:

• AgMatters, LLC, Vassalboro — food safety education for Maine crop distribution systems.

• Crooked Face Creamery, Norridgewock — market expansion of a national award-winning artisan creamery.

• Maine Agricultural in the Classroom, Augusta — increasing Maine agricultural markets and nutritional awareness of Maine crops through elementary education.

• University of Maine — increasing local plum production for farm market diversification in Monmouth.

Proposals that were picked incorporated one or more of four priorities: market development for processing animals/livestock throughout Maine; improved utilization and profitability of Maine-grown grains; market enhancements for nutrition and/or food safety; projects that focus on alternative markets or diversification, according to the release.

Projects chosen have been tentatively identified pending approval by the state Purchases Division and the successful completion of a state contract.

Conservationist Paul Hersey retires

Paul D. Hersey, of Farmington, recently retired from a 40-year-plus career with the U.S. Department og Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service as a district conservationist, according to a news release froom the department. An open house reception was held last week.

Hersey’s first permanent position with the former Soil Conservation Service (now NRCS) was in November of 1974 as a soil scientist in Rockland, Maine. In 1975, he went to Cumberland County as a soil conservationist, then to Farmington in 1976 as a district conservationist, back to Cumberland County in 1984, and returned to Farmington in 1990 for a 24-year stay as district conservationist.

Hersey’s dedication and service has been an extremely valuable asset to Franklin County, where he made countless improvements to the natural resources in the area, according to the relese, where he played an instrumental role in improving private farmland and woodland.

Institute for Family-Owned Businesses seeks nominations for 16th annual Maine Family Business Awards

The Institute for Family-Owned Businesses will honor the best and brightest with the Maine Family Business Awards in May, and is seeking nominee businesses.

Categories include the Maddy Corson Small Business Award (fewer than 25 employees); Large Business Award (more than 25 employees); Shep Lee Community Service Award; The Wolak Group Customer Service Award; Innovation/Technology Award; First Generation Award; Green Environment Award, which is new in 2015.

An independent judging panel selects winners based upon varied criteria, including business success, positive business and family linkages, contributions to the community and industry, family participation, work environment, communication and innovative business practices or strategies.

Definition of a family business for the awards include two or more family members working, or owning, a business together.

Last year’s winners include Messer Truck Equipment, Lamey Wellehan, Will’s Shop ‘n Save, Chalmers Insurance Group, The Meadowmere Resort, Eco-kids and the Chebeague Island Inn.

Nominations are now being accepted and may be made by those inside or outside the business. An online nomination form and other information are available at www.fambusiness.org or by contacting the Institute at798.2667. The deadline for nominations is Friday, Feb. 13.

The Institute for Family-Owned Business is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting family-owned businesses, which represent about 80 percent of all businesses in Maine.

Colby College names Matthew T. Proto next vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid

Matthew T. Proto, who leads Stanford University’s admissions marketing and communications efforts, has been named vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid at Colby College, President David A. Greene announced in a press release.

Proto’s appointment follows a national search conducted by Greene and a search committee of faculty, staff and students. Proto will begin his duties at Colby June 1.

At Stanford, Proto, who is assistant dean of admission, oversees a marketing and communications strategy that led to the university’s largest applicant pool in history as well as the largest-ever percentage of admitted students who chose to attend, according to the release. He also developed integrated marketing strategies with the university’s communications office.

At Colby Proto will lead a staff of 25 in recruiting the most-highly qualified, diverse, and intellectually ambitious students to Colby, the release said. He will oversee all aspects of admissions, including counselor travel, application reading, alumni participation in admissions efforts, and student-athlete and international student recruiting. He will also oversee Colby’s generous financial aid program, which meets the full demonstrated need of all admitted students and does so without burdening the students and their families with institutional loans.

Proto began his career in admissions at Yale, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and was an All-Ivy football player. He worked in college counseling at Choate Rosemary Hall and ran the scholar selection process at the Morehead-Cain Scholars Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before moving to Stanford. He earned a master’s degree from Wesleyan and a doctorate in education from UNC Chapel Hill.

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