DOVER-FOXCROFT – Pine Tree Hospice and Chadbourne-Merrill American Legion Post are collaborating on an educational program, Wounded Warriors and What They Can Teach Us, on June 6 at the American Legion Post on Park Street.

A social will be held at 4:30 p.m. followed by a potluck dinner at 5 p.m. The speakers will address participants from 5:45 to 8:45 p.m.

The presentation is open to the public and will provide information on the psychological impact of war on veterans and valuable end-of-life material directed to veterans, their families and caregivers, both personal and professional.

More than 600,000 veterans die each year, and in 2001, 25 percent of Americans who died were veterans.

Since most veterans do not die in a Veterans Affairs medical center, it is important for health care providers in all settings to be familiar with the often unique needs of the veteran population, especially with regard to chronic terminal illness at the end of life. The program will focus on several ways caregivers can provide special care making the end-of-life process a time of healing for a wounded spirit.

Guest speakers include Dr. Patrick Daly, palliative care director at the Veterans Administration, and Kandyce Powell, executive director of the Maine Hospice Council and chairwoman of the National Hospice-Veterans Advisory Committee. They will discuss the first-in-the-nation Hospice-Veterans Partnership, the status of veterans, hospice care in Maine, and local community referrals and services for veterans.

Representative Pete Johnson of Cecil R. Cole Post 94 in Greenville and Sue Mackey Andrews, Pine Tree Hospice president, also will address the group.

Marcia Walden, a home health and hospice nurse at Community Health and Counseling Services, will review hospice services provided locally, and Amy Madigan-Dube, coordinator of volunteers and client services, will review the volunteer opportunities available at Pine Tree Hospice.

For more information, call Ed Conroy, commander of the American Legion Post, at 564-3265 or Cynthia Scott, Pine Tree Hospice executive director, at 564-4359.