Talk at Griffin Hospital in Derby to focus on improving literacy skills

DERBY - The Community Health Resource Center at Griffin Hospital, 130 Division St., will host a free educational talk about free resources to improve literacy skills at 2 p.m. Jan. 19.

Kathi Hunt, Program Manager, Valley Program of Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven, will present “Literacy & Health,” an overview of free tutoring available for residents of Shelton, Derby, Ansonia, and Seymour who would like to improve their reading, writing, and speaking English skills. 
Valley Program of Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven offers Basic Literacy and English as a Second Language courses. 
In addition, the presentation will provide information about how low literacy can impact one’s health and wellness.

There will also be information on how people can volunteer to be tutors for the Valley Program of Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven.

To register or for more information, call Kerry or Deborah at 203-732-7399.

The Community Health Resource Center at Griffin Hospital is a traditional library that provides an array of medical and health information, including a large collection of easy to read health and lifestyle-related materials. 

The Center is open to the public to educate themselves on ways to enhance their well-being, prevent illness and play an active role in decisions about their health.


This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.

Ansonia ice skating enthusiasts await freezing temps

Gold medal-winning figure skater Marisa Panuczak, 15, of Seymour poses at the ice rink with Ansonia Mayor David S. Cassetti in this photo from Feb. 17.


ANSONIA - The portable ice rink at Nolan Field is filled with water and now all that's needed is freezing temperatures.

Read all about it here in a story by New Haven Register correspondent Jean Falbo-Sosnovich.

Griffin Hospital in Derby to host 'New Year, New You'

 Griffin Hospital will host a series of free talks entitled “New Year, New You” in January to help people achieve better health in 2017./ Contributed photo

DERBY - Griffin Hospital will host a series of free talks to help people achieve better health in 2017.

Entitled “New Year, New You,” the talks will offer information on stress management, meditation, positive thinking, healthy eating, smoking cessation, chronic disease self-management, weight-loss and fitness. 

All of the talks will be held at the hospital, 130 Division St.

The series starts Jan. 16 at 5:30 p.m. with “Positive Thinking and Finding Your Passion.” 

This presentation will feature information and demonstrations on meditation and practicing gratitude and discovering your passion by Griffin’s Spiritual Care and Psychiatry departments to help individuals lessen stress and foster a more positive mindset.

On Jan. 23 at 6 p.m. “Healthy Steps” will feature information on Griffin’s free smoking cessation program and its free self-management program for individuals with chronic diseases, including pain, stress, anxiety, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

The series will finish Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. with “Healthy Eating, Exercise and Weight-Loss,” featuring expert advice on nutrition, fitness and weight-loss procedures from Griffin’s dietitians, exercise psychologists, and bariatric surgeons.

This series is part of Griffin Hospital's Healthy U program, a series of free wellness talks featuring Griffin Hospital medical experts and community partners providing trusted health information and answers to questions on a wide range of topics. 

Light refreshments will be served.

To reserve your spot or for more information, call 203-732-1511 or visit the calendar at griffinhealth.org.

This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.

Newsletter features Seymour Pink, K of C free throw contest in Ansonia, more

Dear readers,

This week's Valley Voice newsletter is out. 

Please click here to read about Seymour Pink, Twelfth Night in Ansonia and more.

We wish everyone a Happy and Healthy 2017.

~ Patti and Ralph

Martial arts business owner donates $810 to Seymour Pink

Seymour Pink founder Mary Deming, left, accepts a donation of $810 Tuesday from Bushi Ban owner John Lombardo, his wife, Tanya, and son, Vincent, at Seymour Pink gift shop. 
Lombardo held fundraisers during October, breast cancer awareness month, at the Bushi Ban Martial Arts and Fitness locations he owns in Seymour and Southbury.

I happened to be at the shop at 3 Franklin St., Seymour, when the Lombardo family stopped by to make the presentation. 

Please stay tuned for more on Seymour Pink in Thursday's Valley Voice newsletter.

Crisco pens farewell column, thanks constituents

By Joseph J. Crisco, Jr. 

I would like to thank my constituents for the privilege of serving as your state Senator for the past 24 years.

As I write this, the start of the 2017 legislative session is just one week away. But for the first time, I will not be there.

I was first elected to the state Senate in 1992, a Wilbur Cross High School and UConn grad who spent most of my life commuting back and forth from the Valley to my day job as director of government affairs for the United Technologies Corp.

Joseph J. Crisco, Jr. 

There are all kinds of ways to serve your fellow man: for a long time I took a lot of pride in my athletic accomplishments on the football field at Wilbur Cross and UConn. 
Teamwork and dedication, win or lose, were the hallmarks of my youth, and they instilled in me a spirit of effort and compromise, of commitment and acceptance.

There really is no better place to spend your time than in the General Assembly. I really consider it my second home. 
The staff and the other legislators become your second family; you rely on them for advice, and for comfort, for support, and you come to trust their judgment. You have to, because there are so many important issues that we deal with.

I had been in the legislature just six years when I struck on the idea of creating a ‘Family Day’ in Connecticut to celebrate what I think is the most important teacher of individual responsibility and morality. As the father of six and the grandfather of 18, I honestly believe that.

I was happy to launch the Connecticut Hall of Fame in 2006 to recognize all the famous and productive people who have called Connecticut their home. Katherine Hepburn, Mark Twain, and Igor Sikorsky were the first three inductees.

Along the way I kept the annual 17^th District Senior fair going on at Warsaw Park in Ansonia. I was happy to sponsor the annual Young Women in Technology Expo to help introduce 7^th-grade girls to the types of careers you might find at UTC or any of the other high-tech companies now located throughout Connecticut. 

There were state grants, too, for the Ansonia Nature and Recreation Center and the Sterling Opera House in Derby, for athletic fields and libraries, animal shelters and affordable housing and recreational trails. I worked with area legislators to help keep the Troop I Barracks in Bethany.

I used my position as chairman of the Insurance Committee to fight for better patient care, especially when it came to women’s breast cancer. 
I was so happy to be introduced to Dr. Nancy Cappello, because we had a years-long partnership working to improve health insurance coverage for women’s breast exams, which led to the legislature’s passage of the ‘dense breast tissue’ and breast MRI bills which have undoubtedly saved many lives here in Connecticut, throughout the nation and the world. 
This has become even more of a personal issue for me now that my wife is undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

My concern for the health and welfare of Connecticut’s residents is also reflected in my creation of the Biomedical Research Fund, which has awarded millions of dollars over the years to Connecticut-based researchers doing work in heart disease, cancer, smoking-related illnesses, Alzheimer’s, stroke, and diabetes. 
Just two months ago I was at Griffin Hospital in Derby to celebrate $1.3 million to be used for research at Griffin’s Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Center.

Everything I’ve done in my life has been in that spirit of teamwork and dedication, win or lose, showing effort and commitment whether it be in a practice or the big game. 
I’m so happy to have fought and won for you, and to have had your support and your trust for so many years. 

It is my sincerest hope that the work I have done will live on for years to come, doing good, and that you and your families have a wonderful New Year, this year and for our future to come.  


Crisco, a Democrat, is a Woodbridge resident.

Griffin Hospital fundraiser collects $8K for Spooner House in Shelton

Susan Agamy, Executive Director of Spooner House, left, joined Kim Hall, Sr. Applications Coordinator at Griffin Hospital, and hospital staff Dec. 21 in drawing tickets for the Holiday Wonderland of Trees fundraiser./ Contributed photo


DERBY - Griffin Hospital’s annual Holiday Wonderland of Trees fundraiser collected more than $8,000 for Spooner House in Shelton to help feed and shelter area families in need this winter.

As part of Griffin’s Planetree Patient-Centered Care Philosophy, the Holiday Wonderland of Trees calls on hospital departments to decorate three-foot artificial evergreen trees that are raffled off. 

The fundraiser aims to help improve health the community by supporting the Spooner House’s free shelter and food.

This is the sixth year of the fundraiser, which has raised more than $37,900 in total.

This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.