LEWISTON — Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice presented the Robert D. Turcotte Award to three people at spring volunteer recognition events held in Auburn, Farmington and Bridgton.

The award is presented in honor of Turcotte, an Auburn resident, who was treasurer of Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice’s Board of Directors from 1978 until his death in 1982. Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice gives this award in acknowledgement of outstanding contributions to the promotion of home health care.

The 2015 award recipients are: Barry and Gayla Drake of Poland Spring, Bonnie McHugh of Auburn and Betsy Ware of Auburn.

The Drakes have been volunteering since April of 2012. Since that time, they have visited 47 Hospice patients at Clover Nursing Facility. They have gotten to know AHCH Hospice staff and the facility staff and are highly respected by all. They have gone in extra for their patients when they were agitated, scared or actively dying. Along with all they do at Clover, they have helped with many other projects that support AHCH patients under Hospice care. They were part of the Forget-Me-Not pilot project designed for Alzheimer’s patients at the end-of-life and provided great feedback to help shape the program.

McHugh has been instrumental in assisting AHCH achieve success, not only by helping develop a plan to create greater exposure for AHCH’s three major fundraising events but also in the planning process by volunteering to serve on the planning committees for the Hospice House 5K and Remembrance Walk and Butterfly Release events. With her leadership and expertise, AHCH was able to expand its reach and visibility throughout its service area and grew the walk/run from 200 participants in one location in 2010 to more than 800 participants in two locations by 2015. She took the lead in helping create radio public service announcements with patient testimonials and on-air interviews promoting all of AHCH’s events at no cost. She has visited with patients and families to record testimonials that are used in print, on AHCH’s website and on the radio.

Ware has been a volunteer with AHCH since January of 2009. Since she began, she has been volunteering four hours, twice a week. She has been incredibly reliable and dedicated. She has learned all aspects of the office volunteer work in the Hospice Department and has trained several new volunteers for the office. In the PI Department, she has been a huge asset as well as in the Medical Records Department. She has done everything from filing to entering data in the computer. She is also trained in Reiki and has provided Reiki to AHCH’s hospice patients at Clover Manor.

Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice is a nonprofit Medicare-certified agency. This year completes 10 years of caring and compassion at the Hospice House.

For more information on Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice and all of their services, go to www.AHCH.org.