I had the pleasure to meet with Dr. Velandy Manohar of the Community Health Center, Inc. to speak about the important and sometimes sensitive topic of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). On Wednesday, June 27, I was informed that it was Veterans and National PTSD Awareness Day and that the entire month of June serves as a month dedicated to this very important observance. With only 1% of the US population serving within our armed forces, this is definitely a…
In 1995, the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) founded National HIV testing day on June 27th. Seventeen years later, this group continues to front this observance. The main goal of this day of awareness is to encourage people of all ages to “take the test, take control”. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the virus that can lead to acquired immune deficiency syndrome, know as AIDS. Too many people don’t know they have HIV. In the United States,…
If you have been able to visit the beautiful rooftop of the new Middletown building, then you might have noticed seven empty garden plots waiting to be filled! These garden plots were specifically inserted into the blueprint of the rooftop to benefit local community members such as the students of the Macdonough Elementary School Garden club. Throughout the course of the school year, thirty or so students have been meeting once a week to learn about the art of gardening…
Although Fathers day is less than a week away, National Men’s Health week should not only be a time to promote healthier dad’s, but to also encourage good health among the brothers, uncles, cousins, grandfathers, friends and everyone in between who are involved in your life. National Men’s Health Week 2012 started on Monday, June 11, and will continue until Sunday, June 17 which is Father’s Day in the US, Canada, and UK. The purpose of Men’s Health Week is to heighten…
It can be hard to acknowledge why exactly we get a three day weekend around the time of Memorial Day. Summer is right at our fingertips, beach trips and Barbeques are on the agenda, and getting a Monday off from work is always a nice treat…but that’s not the most important thing about the last Monday in May year after year. I had the privilege to be in Middletown for this year’s Memorial Day parade and I felt like it…
The month of May is used as a platform to promote National Teen Pregnancy Prevention. The United States has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and teen births in the western industrialized world and teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $7 billion annually. Every year, an estimated 750,000 teenagers will get pregnant and more than two-thirds of all teenagers who have a child will not graduate with a high school degree. Although some of these statistics seem a…