Joann McMahon, R.N., C.N.A Instructor
Ph: 207-729-6622 x119
I am so glad to hear in your interest in the C.N.A Program!
My name is Joanne McMahon and I teach the C.N.A. program at Region 10.
I was born and raised in Torrington CT, I graduated from Salve Regina University in 1983 and was commissioned in the US NAVY in that same year. I served 21 years in the United States Navy Nurse Corps, attaining the rank of Commander and I retired in 2004. My husband Marty is also retired, a US Navy-Pilot. I have been a Registered Nurse for 38 years.
My favorite thing is quite simply, my family. My husband Marty, our 2 children, Dr. Kathleen McMahon, D.O., and John McMahon. My family has taught me so much about challenges, looking at them and overcoming them…. sometimes with tears, sometimes with laughter and sometimes both. We are surrounded by a big military family and our own families all over the US and Europe.I have many hobbies: I love to knit, crochet, quilt, Cricut designing (I am a beginner), “glamping”, walking, family and friends, staying strong, being by the water and sitting in the backyard, reading.
I have received the Joshua Chamberlain Award in 2017 from the Brunswick-Topsham-Bath Military Community Council “for activities that serve to build upon the close relationship and understanding existing between the community and military components of the greater Brunswick-Topsham-Bath community.”
I am also a Board Member of Independence Association, Brunswick, Veterans No Boundaries-founding member and chairperson for 19 years-providing adaptive recreation to disabled veterans and their families.
I gravitated to teaching without a conscious effort. I was always asked in the Navy why I was “making beds and not at the desk doing paperwork”, I said that active participation is where it is all happening. Through actively working with my students, I know more about their families and their dreams.
I have always taught by example and I still do that. I get in there and actively help my students. Experience has taught me that there is a fine line between showing and “just doing it for them”. Sometimes I stop, breathe and just wait for a student to understand. This is my favorite part of teaching. When the “lightbulb” does go off and when my students say “Mrs M… I got this!!” I can say “YES, you do!!”
