Fundraiser for breast health on tap at Riverwalk Social in Derby

DERBY - Kick off your Memorial Day Weekend with Friday night fun - Karaoke Style! 

We'll be at RiverWalk Social, 17 Elizabeth St. from 6-9 p.m. May 27 to raise money for breast health and healing initiatives. 

Join us! $3 a song, $5 to stop the music.

This is shared from a Facebook event page.

Save the date: Seymour Pink's 'Night to Remember' slated March 8

The nonprofit Seymour Pink is a community's fight against breast cancer.

Diamond dig slated in Shelton to benefit The Valley Goes Pink

Dig for a worthy cause and win a chance at taking home a 1.00 carat diamond or over 600 carats of gemstones! First Annual Diamond Dig! Dig For A Worthy Cause Bucks Are Going Fast!  Stop In To Get Yours Before They're Gone! Thursday, October 26, 2017 Everyone is a winner! Date: Thursday, October 26, 2017 Time: 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm Location: Marks of Design: 389 Bridgeport Ave, Shelton, CT 06484  Donation: $40.00 per bucket (Limited Quantity Available)       All proceeds will benefit Valley Goes Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Prizes: 1.00 carat diamond, OVER 600 carats of gemstones!  For more information on this event click the icon below Click Here | Facebook | Email | Website | 203-924-0030 |

$2,800 raised for Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness at Griffin Hospital in Derby

Contributed photo

Members of the Derby High School Girls Softball team presented Griffin Hospital Fund Director Tricia O’Malley with a $2,800 donation to The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness at Griffin Hospital. 

Front row from left: Derby High Softball players Lacey DiMartino and Anna Chevarella. Back row from left: Derby High School Athletic Director Rachael Caggiano, Derby High Softball Assistant Coach Jenn Moffat, O’Malley, Derby High Softball Coach Joe DiMartino, Lori DiMartino, and Derby High Principal Marty Pascale.

DERBY– The Derby and Ansonia High School softball teams recently presented Griffin Hospital Fund Director Tricia O’Malley with a $2,800 donation to The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness at Griffin Hospital.

The teams raised the money at the 7^th Annual Derby-Ansonia Pink Softball Game April 22. 
Organized by long-time Griffin Hospital employee and Derby High School Softball Coach Joe DiMartino, the fundraiser was held in honor of his wife, Lori, a breast cancer survivor.

The event featured raffles, food, and music by DJ Phyllis Kaplan as the two teams competed. Overall, the annual fundraiser has donated more than $20,000 to the Center.

Located at 300 Seymour Ave., The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness at Griffin Hospital offer patients a comprehensive range of personalized breast care and wellness services. 
For more information about The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness, call 203-732-1300 or visit griffinhealth.org/cbw.

This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.

Hewitt Center at Griffin Hospital in Derby receives quality designation

DERBY - The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness at Griffin Hospital has again achieved the highest level of quality breast health care recognition from the American College of Surgeons.

The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness was granted a three-year/full accreditation designation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, a program administered by the American College of Surgeons. 

The Hewitt Center was also accredited by the organization in 2013.

“The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness is a comprehensive breast center, offering patients expert staff, patient-centered care, advanced technology and all the resources and services needed to quickly and effectively screen and diagnose breast disease,” said Denise Barajas, MD, medical director of The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness. 

“We are very proud to be recognized again for our commitment to providing safe, exceptional and complete care to our community.”

Accreditation by the NAPBC is only given to those centers that provide the highest level of quality breast care and that voluntarily undergo a rigorous evaluation process and review of their performance. During the survey process, the center must demonstrate compliance with standards established by the NAPBC for treating women who are diagnosed with the full spectrum of breast disease. 

The standards include proficiency in the areas of: center leadership, clinical management, research, community outreach, professional education, and quality improvement.

  

A breast center that achieves NAPBC accreditation has demonstrated a firm commitment to offer its patients every significant advantage in their battle against breast disease.

The NAPBC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to the improvement of the quality of care and monitoring of outcomes of patients with diseases of the breast.  

This mission is pursued through standard-setting, scientific validation, and patient and professional education.  

Its board membership includes professionals from 20 national organizations that reflect the full spectrum of breast care.

The American Cancer Society estimated there would be 232,340 patients diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in the United States in 2013. 

In addition, hundreds of thousands of women who will deal with benign breast disease this year will require medical evaluation for treatment options by a breast center. 

Receiving care at a NAPBC-accredited center ensures that a patient will have access to:

• Comprehensive care, including a full range of state-of-the-art services
• A multidisciplinary team approach to coordinate the best treatment options
• Information about ongoing clinical trials and new treatment options
• Quality breast care close to home.

For more information about the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, visit www.accreditedbreastcenters.org.

About The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness 

The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness at Griffin Hospital opened in 2011 and primarily serves the Lower Naugatuck Valley and surrounding communities. 

It combines state-of-the-art technology, a team of highly trained physicians and staff, and a Planetree healing environment to offer patients a comprehensive range of personalized breast care and wellness services.  The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness features two state-of-the-art digital mammography suites with 3D mammography (tomosynthesis) capability, a breast ultrasound suite, and the most advanced system available to perform stereotactic biopsy.  

The Center also utilizes a rapid diagnostic model where patients are often given test results the same day imaging tests are performed, and if indicated, follow up testing (ultrasound, breast biopsy) and even consultation with a breast surgeon are often available the same day if the patient’s schedule permits. 

For more information, call 203-732-1300 or visit griffinhealth.org/cbw.

This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.

Bingo for Boobies fundraiser slated at The Hops Company in Derby

DERBY - Bingo for Boobies to benefit The Valley Goes Pink will be held from 6-9 p.m. Oct. 11 at The Hops Company, 77 Sodom Lane.

Sharing info from an event page on Facebook:

Admission is $20 and includes 10 bingo cards (4 games per card) and pizza. Wine, beer, and cocktails are available for purchase.

There are great prizes in each round. There will also be a 50/50 raffle. 

Call Sue Petrizzo at 203-400-1068. Reservations are essential.

Seymour Pink opens registration Friday for 5th Annual Pounding the Pavement

Sat. October 1st 2016   Go BIG or Go Home! As we prepare for registration to open this Friday for our 5th Annual Pounding the Pavement for Pink, we've looked at how this event has just exploded.  Over 2200 runners and walkers joined us last year, including members of over 80 teams. Over 2200 in only our 4th year!!!  We can't wait to see where we go from here.  Join us on October 1st to walk or run for Hope. Registration for the 2016 POUNDING THE PAVEMENT FOR PINK: Adults 18+ Ages 6-17 Kids Run (8 and under) Early Bird July 1-31 $25 $15 $10 Registration Aug. 1-31 $30 $20 $15 Late Registration Sept. 1-15 $40 $25 $20 The first 1800 people to register will receive the 2016 race T-shirt. 2016 Race Link Registration will open at 7am on July 1st.  Team Registration Incentive...  To kick off our registration -  the first 10 TEAM CAPTAINS to register their team and have at least 5 members register will be literally glowing! Donations Appreciated! We want to take this event over-the-top this year.  So we are offering an incentive to individuals that are interested in collecting donations for Pink. An individual who raises $500 in donations for Seymour Pink for their 5k run/walk, that person will receive a $50 gift card to either Hot Tamales, 500 degrees on Main Street OR Tavern 1757!  An individual who raises $1000 in donations will receive a $100 gift card to the one of these restaurants, YOUR choice! If you want to get people to donate or sponsor your run/walk - the registration site will give you a chance to set up a "FUNDRAISER". This will allow you to set a goal and to have people donate towards your goal. If you want to set this up when you register: 1. Navigate to the Race Page. 2. Select Donate from the left-hand sidebar. 3. Select Become a Fundraiser. 4. Enter in a name for your Fundraiser 5. Enter in a goal for your new Fundraiser 6. Add a message to describe your Fundraiser 7. Complete your registration You can also go back and set this up after you register: 1. Sign In to RunSignUp 2. Go to your Profile 3. Click My Registered Races 4. Click View/Edit next to the registration to View/Edit 5. Click Fundraiser in the left-hand sidebar to begin Here is a full How-To if you have any problems. https://runsignup.com/How-To/Become-Fundraiser  Sponsor Opportunities There are TONS of ways your business can help support this event and Seymour Pink.  The Presenting Sponsor level has been taken again by Haynes Construction (THANK YOU!!!).  There are other levels still available.  Please reach out to Mary Deming via email or phone(203-668-3170) for more information.

Crisco attends Are You Dense? fundraiser in Waterbury

Pictured from left, Julie S. Gershon, M.D., Nancy Cappello, PhD., state Sen. Joseph J. Crisco, Jr., and breast cancer survivor Jan Kritzman at MusicFEST Tuesday in Waterbury. /Contributed photo

WATERBURY - State Sen. Joseph J. Crisco, Jr., D-Woodbridge, participated Tuesday in the 8^th Annual ‘Are You Dense MusicFEST’ at The Palace Theatre.

The event was a fundraiser and a celebration of the work that Are You Dense (www.areyoudense.org) does to encourage the early detection and treatment of breast cancer, especially in women with ‘dense’ (less fat and more connective/fibrous and glandular tissue) breasts.

Crisco received the first “Champion of Exposing the Secret Award” from Are You Dense at its 2010 MusicFEST; Crisco has been a national leader in promoting and passing public policy legislation to help detect and treat breast cancer, including breast cancers that are difficult to detect in dense breast tissue.

“We have 27 other states across America that have followed Connecticut’s lead on dense breast tissue thanks to Joe’s great leadership,” said Nancy M. Cappello, executive director and founder of Are You Dense, which was borne out of her own tragedy of an advanced stage breast cancer diagnosis in 2004. 
“Joe Crisco has been a great, great advocate for breast health in Connecticut.”

Among his many accomplishments in the field, Crisco has most recently helped write and pass into law public policies requiring insurance companies to cover an ultrasound or an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) for women with dense breast tissue, which can obscure cancerous tumors in an otherwise standard mammogram; and requiring insurance companies to pay for a three-dimensional breast mammogram called tomosynthesis which has been shown to detect 40 percent more invasive breast cancers.

“Nancy and her group have been great partners in the fight to provide more and better detection and treatment for breast cancer in women, and I always enjoy the music and camaraderie of like-minded people who are doing good for our mothers and our sisters, our wives and our daughters,” Crisco said. “It was a great night!”

Receiving this year’s Champion Award was Dr. Julie Gershon, a breast radiologist from Avon, for her education campaigns across the state on breast health and the impact of dense breast tissue on missed, delayed, and advanced stage breast cancer. 

Jan Kritzman, a breast cancer survivor turned patient advocate, was presented the Esther Award. 

This is a press release from Crisco's office.

Re-posting: Griffin Hospital in Derby to host 'Are You Dense?' seminar

Food, fun, friends found at holiday party at Griffin Hospital in Derby

DERBY - Camaraderie, caring, and celebration mark the annual holiday party Griffin Hospital's dining services gives our Circle of Friends support group. 

And this year's event was no exception. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, we sang, and we were treated to some "interesting" jokes by our resident joke teller.

And we had musical accompaniment as we sang traditional Christmas songs.

I could have used a video camera here to better capture our youngest member.

My thanks go out to support group facilitators Joyce Grohe, Donna Hayes, the dining services department including chef Walter, and all who helped make it a fun evening!

Sharing 2015 Seymour Pink banner tribute

 

This beautiful video montage was created by Shelton resident Marc Weissman, host of the cable access TV show Looking Up: A View from the Valley.

The video shows the banners displayed in Seymour in honor of breast cancer survivors and in memory of those who have died from the disease. Please check it out!

On Sunday Weissman said in a Facebook post, "For the soundtrack, I chose an impassioned rendition of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' sung by the late Eva Cassidy, who 19 years ago tomorrow sadly succumbed to melanoma at the tender age of 33."

Crisco celebrates breast cancer 'awareness to action' day

State Sen. Joe Crisco, left, with Nancy and Joe Cappello. / Submitted photo

As a policy leader in making Connecticut a global trailblazer in breast cancer early detection and treatment, state Sen. Joseph Crisco Jr., D-Woodbridge, today joined breast health advocates from Connecticut and the region to celebrate the Third Annual Breast Cancer Awareness and Action Day in Hartford, which recognizes Connecticut’s leadership in breast density education and legislation.

The event was hosted by Dr. Nancy M. Cappello, a breast cancer survivor and the director and founder of Are You Dense, Inc., a nonprofit group dedicated to educating the public about the risks and screening challenges of dense breast tissue and its impact on missed, delayed and advanced-stage breast cancer.

Dense breast tissue is comprised of less fat and more connective tissue, which appears white on a mammogram. 

Cancer also appears white - thus tumors are often hidden by the dense tissue. Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and a quarter of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue.

“Joe Crisco is my legislative champion. Without our champion legislators, we would not be here, nor would we have 24 states that have mirrored our work from 2009,” Dr. Cappello said.

“With Senator Crisco’s understanding of the science, and his understanding that his job as a legislator is to protect the safety of our citizens, we went to work on this. And in 2009 we became the first state in the nation to require disclosing density to a patient through their mammography report.”  

“The thing we have to remember above all is the thousands of women whose lives have been saved, and the pain and suffering that has been avoided or minimized, due to our laws and the work of Nancy Cappello and her husband Joe,” Crisco said. “It has been a team effort, and it has been eminently rewarding."

As Senate Chair of the Insurance Committee, Crisco has led the legislature in passing two important laws to help ensure women’s breast health: requiring insurance companies to cover an ultrasound or an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) for women with dense breast tissue, which can obscure cancerous tumors in an otherwise standard mammogram.

This is a press release from Crisco's office.