Griffin Health to host Children's Health and Safety Fair at Warsaw Park in Ansonia

ANSONIA - The 20^th annual Children’s Health and Safety Fair will be April 30 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Warsaw Park on Pulaski Highway to help families get ready for a fun and healthy summer.

Griffin Hospital Community Outreach and Valley Parish Nurse Program, Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley, Griffin Faculty Physicians, and area health and safety organizations will offer free healthy treats, free raffles, games, and information on a variety of health, wellness and safety programs. 

The event will be held rain or shine.

Interactive health, wellness and safety displays at the event will include water and summer safety, child passenger safety, pedestrian safety, exercise and sports safety, medication and poison prevention safety, pet safety, nutrition, social emotional learning, safe sleep for infants, germbusters, backpack safety, CPR, fire and home safety, and more. 

Safe Kids and Griffin Health will also host a bike helmet clinic, with free, fitted bike helmets available for the first 300 children.

Griffin Faculty Physicians and Ansonia Public Schools will provide healthy snacks. There will also be story time throughout the event, a garden planting activity sponsored by Home Depot and the Valley Community Foundation, touch-a-truck, photo booth, free books, raffles, and a prize wheel.

For more information, call 203-732-1337.

About the Valley Parish Nurse Program

The Griffin Hospital Valley Parish Nurse program was established in 1990 and is now one of the oldest in the country, with nearly 40 participating churches, more than 125 parish nurses, and 350 additional volunteers who support the nurses and who serve on the health cabinets of the individual churches.

About Safe Kids

Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley works to prevent unintentional childhood injury, the number one cause of death for children in the United States. Its members include local police, fire, EMS, schools, LNV Boys & Girls Clubs, TEAM Headstart, Derby Elks, and APW. Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing unintentional injury. 

Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley was founded in 2004 and is led by the Griffin Hospital Valley Parish Nurses. 

For more information, visit safekids.org.

About Griffin Faculty Physicians

Griffin Faculty Physicians Primary Care is a multi-specialty medical group affiliated with Griffin Hospital, offering exceptional, personalized care to residents in the Lower Naugatuck Valley and the surrounding communities at our conveniently located offices in Ansonia, Oxford, Southford, Naugatuck, and Shelton.

This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.

Children's Health and Safety Fair on tap at Warsaw Park in Ansonia

ANSONIA - The Annual Children’s Health and Safety Fair is back for its 19^th year May 15 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Warsaw Park on Pulaski Highway. 

The goal of the event is to help families get ready for a fun and healthy summer.

Griffin Hospital Community Outreach and Valley Parish Nurse Program, Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley, Griffin Faculty Physicians, and area health and safety organizations will offer free healthy treats, free raffles, games, and information on a variety of health, wellness and safety programs. 

The event will be held rain or shine.

Interactive health, wellness, and safety displays at the event will include water and summer safety, child passenger safety, pedestrian safety, exercise and sports safety, medication and poison prevention safety, pet safety, nutrition, social emotional learning, safe sleep for infants, germ busters, backpack safety, CPR, fire and home safety, and more. 

Safe Kids and Griffin Health will also host a bike helmet clinic, with free, fitted bike helmets available for the first 300 children.

Griffin Faculty Physicians and Ansonia Public Schools will provide healthy snacks. 

There will also be a magic show at 1 p.m. by Bryan Lizotte of Magic Moments, story time throughout the event, a garden planting activity sponsored by Home Depot and the Valley Community Foundation, touch-a-truck, photo booth, free books, raffles and a prize wheel.

For more information, call 203-732-1337.

About the Valley Parish Nurse Program

The Griffin Hospital Valley Parish Nurse program was established in 1990 and is now one of the oldest in the country, with nearly 40 participating churches, more than 125 parish nurses, and 350 additional volunteers who support the nurses and who serve on the health cabinets of the individual churches.

About Safe Kids

Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley works to prevent unintentional childhood injury, the number one cause of death for children in the United States. Its members include local police, fire, EMS, schools, LNV Boys & Girls Clubs, TEAM Headstart, Derby Elks, and APW. Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing unintentional injury. Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley was founded in 2004 and is led by the Griffin Hospital Valley Parish Nurses. For more information, visit safekids.org.

About Griffin Faculty Physicians

Griffin Faculty Physicians Primary Care is a multi-specialty medical group affiliated with Griffin Hospital, offering exceptional, personalized care to residents in the Lower Naugatuck Valley and the surrounding communities at our conveniently located offices in Derby, Oxford, Southford, Seymour and Shelton.

This is a press release from Griffin Hospital. 

Griffin Hospital donates equipment to St. Mary-St. Michael School in Derby

Daun Barrett, director of Griffin Hospital’s Community Outreach and Valley Parish Nurse Program, right, and St. Mary-St. Michael Principal Linda Coppola hold a pulse oximeter and a forehead thermometer recently donated to the school./ Contributed photo

DERBY - Griffin Hospital’s Community Outreach and Valley Parish Nurse Program helped Derby students get ready for a healthy new school year recently.

The program donated a pulse oximeter and a forehead thermometer to St. Michael-St. Mary School to help the school nurse better care for students. 
The school’s thermometer was out-of-date and the nurse did not have a pulse oximeter.

“We heard the school needed better equipment from one of the members of the new parish nurse program forming at St. Mary the Immaculate Church,” said Daun Barrett, director of Griffin Hospital’s Community Outreach and Valley Parish Nurse Program. 
“Griffin and the Valley Parish Nurses have a mission to improve the health of our community, so we were more than happy to lend a hand.”

Griffin Hospital’s Community Outreach and Valley Parish Nurse Program serves as the hub of Griffin Hospital’s outreach activities, accounting for more than 40,000 community contacts each year. These contacts include fitting bike helmets, training adults and children in CPR, and providing health education and information at senior centers, shopping centers, neighborhoods, companies, and community events and fairs. 

The program also conducts more than 7,500 health screenings each year to help individuals identify problems when they are most treatable, resulting in approximately 11,000 referrals for follow-up care.


This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.

Griffin Hospital in Derby to offer fall prevention program

Griffin Hospital will offer a free fall prevention program March 18 at the hospital. /Contributed photo

DERBY - The Valley Parish Nurse Program at Griffin Hospital and Griffin Hospital Lifeline will host a free Fall Prevention Program from 9 a.m.-noon March 18 at Griffin Hospital, 130 Division St.

The program will discuss the dangers of falling, especially for seniors, and will help attendees prevent falls by: assessing their fall risk; teaching them to assess their, or a loved one’s, risk of falling; teaching and practicing exercises to improve balance and leg strength; providing a medication review; encouraging annual eye exams; teaching ways to reduce tripping hazards at home and learning how to get up or to call for fast help if a fall occurs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of three adults 65 and older will fall each year. 

For those 65 and older, falls are the leading cause of injury, death and hospital admissions for trauma. Those who fall, even if not injured, develop a fear of falling. This fear causes people to limit their activities reducing their mobility, causing loss of physical fitness, which in turn increases the actual risk of falling.

A light breakfast will be provided by Griffin Hospital Lifeline.

To reserve a seat or for more information, contact Esther at 203-732-1523 or ejones@griffinhealth.org.

This is a press release from Griffin Hospital. 

Griffin Hospital in Derby, Freemasons team to keep children safe

DERBY - Griffin Hospital’s Community Outreach and Valley Parish Nurse Program is teaming up with the Connecticut Freemasons to help keep children safe with a free Child Identification Program from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 21 at the hospital, 130 Division St.

CHIP is a comprehensive child identification tool designed to give families a measure of protection by assembling information critical to locating a missing child.

The program is offered free of charge to the parents or legal guardians and consists of providing a computer disk with:

• An interview of your child
• A digital photo of your child
• Digital fingerprints
• Information supplied by you about your child

A dental “tooth print” of your child’s bite pattern plus a DNA swab sample will also be taken for the CHIP kit.

All the information is given to the parent or guardian and none of it is stored for any other party.

To register, call 203-732-1523.


This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.

'Halloween Hoopla' in Ansonia to feature health, safety info

Family-friendly event slated Oct. 30 at Warsaw Park

The 14th Annual Children’s Health and Safety Fair from 3-8 p.m. Oct. 30 at Warsaw Park in Ansonia will have a Halloween theme this year, with fun, games, and treats like these ghostly lollipops. / Contributed photo

ANSONIA - The 14th Annual Children’s Health and Safety Fair will be “treating” families to Halloween fun this year.

Set for Oct. 30 from 3-8 p.m. at Warsaw Park on Pulaski Highway, families are encouraged to come in their Halloween costumes to a “Halloween Hoopla.” It will feature free healthy treats, games, a show by Freakout Magician Chris Lengyel, along with a variety of health, wellness, and safety programs. 
The event will be held rain or shine.

“The Halloween Hoopla will be a safe, family-friendly environment where children can do their trick-or-treating and the whole family can learn about important information that will keep them safe and healthy on Halloween and year-round,” said Daun Barrett, RN, Director of Griffin Hospital's Community Outreach and Valley Parish Nursing Program.

Interactive health, wellness and safety displays at the event will include poison prevention, good hand washing, how to call 911, and there will be a bike helmet clinic, the Child Identification Program, fire engines and rescue vehicles, a safety house to teach about safety features in homes, and much more. 
Free bike helmets will be available for the first 500 children.

The Halloween Hoopla is sponsored by the Valley Parish Nurses of Griffin Hospital, The Valley Community Foundation, Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley, and Griffin Faculty Physicians.

For more information about the fair, call 203.732.1337 or 732-7584.

The Griffin Hospital Valley Parish Nurse program was established in 1990 and is now one of the oldest in the country, with nearly 40 participating churches, more than 125 parish nurses, and 350 additional volunteers who support the nurses and who serve on the health cabinets of the individual churches.

Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley works to prevent unintentional childhood injury, the number one cause of death for children in the United States. 
Its members include local police, fire, EMS, schools, LNV Boys & Girls Clubs, TEAM Headstart, Derby Elks, and VSAAC. Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing unintentional injury. 
Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley was founded in 2004 and is led by the Griffin Hospital Valley Parish Nurses. 
For more information, visit safekids.org.

Griffin Faculty Physicians Primary Care is a multi-specialty medical group affiliated with Griffin Hospital, offering exceptional, personalized care to residents in the Lower Naugatuck Valley and the surrounding communities at our conveniently located offices in Derby, Oxford, Southbury, Seymour and Shelton.


This is a press release from Griffin Hospital. 

Griffin Hospital in Derby to host self-management workshop

DERBY - Griffin Hospital is hosting a free six-week workshop to help individuals suffering from chronic conditions take back control of their lives.

The Live Well Chronic Disease Self-Management Workshop provides health information and strategies to help those with chronic conditions like diabetes, depression, heart disease, arthritis, and pain and anxiety increase their energy and take control of their health. 

The workshop will be held from 1-3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays from Aug. 25-Sept 29 at the hospital, 130 Division St.

The Live Well Chronic Disease Self-Management Workshop is sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Social Services Aging Services Division, Connecticut Department of Public Health and Griffin Hospital.

To register, call Esther Jones at Griffin Hospital’s Community Outreach and Valley Parish Nurse Program, 203-732-1523.

This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.