On The Calendar – Aug 18
Human Service Forum Job Fair
Aug. 22: The Human Service Forum will hold its first annual Human Services Job Fair from 2 to 6 p.m. at La Quinta Inn & Suites, 100 Congress St., Springfield.
This event is free and open to the public. Job seekers of all experience levels are invited to attend, and many bilingual positions are available. Attendees will have the opportunity to network with more than 25 local nonprofit organizations currently looking to fill a wide range of openings.
Employers are involved in a variety of fields including behavioral health, elder care, developmental disabilities, children and families, education, housing and homelessness, addiction recovery, and more. Nonprofit employers are recruiting in many departments, including administrative, direct care, management, human resources, maintenance and operations, finance, and information technology. Visit www.humanserviceforum/jobs for a list of open positions at nonprofit organizations in Western Mass.
Walk for Love
Sept. 8: Are you ready to walk for love? Join the fun at Shriners Hospitals for Children – Springfield for the eighth annual Walk for Love Walkathon and Barbecue. The Walkathon begins at the hospital and continues through Van Horn Park and back to the hospital for a barbecue. It is an easy, three-mile walk and will be held rain or shine.
Registration begins at 9 a.m., followed by the walk at 10 a.m., and the barbecue from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The $25 cost ($5 for children 10 and under, and $40 for families) benefits Shriners Hospitals for Children – Springfield. Register online by visiting lovetotherescue.org/events/walk-for-love-springfield-ma , or register the day of the walk.
RVCC Golf Tournament
Sept. 14: River Valley Counseling Center (RVCC) will hold its third annual golf tournament fundraiser at East Mountain Country Club in Westfield.
“The funds raised will help RVCC to continue providing mental health and other essential supportive services to the thousands of individuals, families, and groups served throughout the Pioneer Valley,” said Rosemarie Ansel, executive director for RVCC.
The event is made possible through the sponsorships of local organizations, including Action Ambulance Service Inc. as the presenting sponsor. Additional tournament sponsors include HCN, Palmer Paving Corp., Unidine, PeoplesBank, Hannoush Jewelers, CINTAS, Qualifacts, Goss & McLain Insurance, Marsh & McLennan Agency, BMC HealthNet Plan, Just 4 Guys, and Jefferson Radiology.
The cost per golfer is $100 and includes greens fees, a golf cart, gift bag, lunch, and dinner. Golfers will also be able to participate in a raffle and silent auction. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. with a 10:30 a.m. shotgun start. There will also be contests on the course which include prizes donated by Marcotte Ford and Teddy Bear Pools.
For more information on sponsorships, donations, and registration, contact Angela Callahan, RVCC’s Marketing and Development specialist, at (413) 841-3546 or callahan_angela@holyokehealth .com. Information is also available at www.rvcc-inc.org or by visiting River Valley Counseling Center’s Facebook page.
The United Arc
Gala & Auction
Sept. 15: The United Arc 2018 Annual Gala & Auction will be held at Hadley Farms Meeting House in Hadley. The event offers collections of packages from local businesses and individuals that support the United Arc’s mission. The Priceless Collection showcases the works of local artists, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Through being featured at past auctions, some of these artists are increasingly finding opportunities to share their artistic talents.
Leading up to the event throughout the summer, select packages are up for bid online in a web-based catalog. Hosted at www.theunitedarc.org/auction , this catalog also provides previews of raffle prizes and packages for the silent and live auctions available at the gala. The online auction will run Monday, Sept. 3.
Tickets are on sale now. Additional package donations and sponsorships are welcome. To become a sponsor or donate an auction package, contact Development Coordinator Saera Hanlon at (413) 774-5558, ext. 1058, or saerahanlon@unitedarc.org.
All proceeds go to support the United Arc’s programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The organization provides services to individuals and their families in Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, and Worcester counties.
EMT Training at HCC
Sept. 20 to Dec. 20: Registration is now open for the next Emergency Medical Technician training program at Holyoke Community College.
The fall HCC EMT Training Program consists of 13 weeks (170 hours) of in-class lectures and additional online study, training, field trips, and workshops designed to prepare students for the state certification exam. The training takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 10 p.m. and select Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at HCC’s Center for Health Education, home to the college’s Nursing and Radiologic Technology programs.
The course, taught by local EMT Mike Marafuga, covers all aspects of emergency care, including patient handling, extrication, and communication, and makes extensive use of the medical simulation labs in HCC’s Center for Health Education on Jarvis Avenue in Holyoke.
For more information or to register, contact Ken White at (413) 552-2324 or kwhite@hcc.edu, or visit www.hcc.edu/workforce.
Mini-Medical School
Sept. 27 to Nov. 15: Thinking of going back to school, but don’t want the hassles of homework, tests, and endless reading and writing? Baystate Medical Center’s Mini-Medical School will give area residents an inside look at the expanding field of medicine.
While it is not difficult to be accepted into the program, slots are limited, and early registration is recommended by calling (413) 794-7630 or visiting www.baystatehealth.org/minimed . Tuition is $95 per person and $80 for Senior Class and Every Woman members.
The Mini-Medical School program is an eight-week health education series featuring a different aspect of medicine each week. Classes this fall will include sessions on various medical topics such as surgery, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, pathology, and several others.
Many of the students, who often range in age from 20 to 70, participate due to a general interest in medicine and later find that many of the things they learned over the semester are relevant to their own lives. The goal of the program — offered in the comfortable environment of the hospital’s Chestnut Conference Center — is to help members of the public make more informed decisions about their healthcare while receiving insight on what it is like to be a medical student — minus the tests, homework, interviews, and admission formalities.
Baystate Medical Center is the region’s only comprehensive teaching hospital, and each course is taught by medical center faculty who explain the science of medicine without resorting to complex terms. All classes are held Thursday nights starting at 6 p.m. and run until 8 or 9 p.m., depending on the night’s topic. No basic science knowledge is needed to participate. Each participant is required to attend a minimum of six out of eight classes in order to receive a certificate of completion.
Austin Riggs Conference
and Prize for Excellence
in Mental Health Media
Sept. 28-30: The Austen Riggs Center announced the winners of its 2018 Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green, and NPR’s Hidden Brain, hosted by social-science correspondent Shankar Vedantam.
The Austen Riggs Center Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media recognizes a select group of professional journalists, writers, and media professionals who create exemplary work that contributes to the public’s understanding of mental-health issues. Each prize carries an award of $3,000 and is presented at the center’s annual Fall Conference held in Stockbridge. This year’s conference, “Duality’s End: Computational Psychiatry and the Cognitive Science of Representation,” will be held on Sept. 28-30.
Green is the award-winning, bestselling author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with David Levithan), and The Fault in Our Stars. In his book Turtles All the Way Down, 16-year-old Aza confronts her roles as daughter, friend, and student while also living with her own troubling thoughts.
NPR’s Hidden Brain uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior. Hidden Brain began in 2012 as a regular series on NPR’s Morning Editionbefore launching as a podcast in 2015, then as a radio program in 2017. The show is now the number-one science podcast in the nation, and is heard on more than 200 public radio stations across the U.S. Throughout his career, host Vedantam has been recognized with many journalism honors.
Healthcare Heroes
Oct. 25: The second annual class of Healthcare Heroes will be honored at the Starting Gate at GreatHorse in Hampden.
Healthcare Heroes, a recognition program involving the Western Mass. healthcare sector, was launched last spring by HCN and BusinessWest to shed a bright light on the outstanding work being done across the broad spectrum of health and wellness services, and the institutions and people providing that care.
Individuals and organizations were nominated in categories including ‘Lifetime Achievement,’ ‘Emerging Leader,’ ‘Patient/Resident/Client Care Provider,’ ‘Innovation in Health/Wellness,’ ‘Health/Wellness Administrator,’ and ‘Collaboration in Healthcare.’ The winners — selected by an independent panel of judges — will be profiled in both magazines in September and feted at the Oct. 25 gala.
Healthcare Heroes sponsors include American International College (presenting sponsor), National Grid (partner), and supporting sponsors Renew.Calm, the Elms College MBA program, and Mercy Medical Center and Trinity Health Of New England.
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