Grandparents' Day Celebration
Grandparents Get Special Gift from Jersey Shore Hospital
Hospital works with Jersey Shore School District to offer
"Mammies for Grammies" and "Prostates for Pappies"
 JERSEY SHORE, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2001 - Grandparents' Day this year will have special significance to grandparents who have grandchildren in the Jersey Shore School District. The school district and Jersey Shore Hospital are partnering to present two community health programs that address the health concerns of grandmothers and grandfathers in the area.
The programs, called "Mammies for Grammies" and "Prostates for Pappies," are cancer awareness and prevention initiatives that will enable eligible grandmothers to schedule free mammogram screenings and grandfathers to attend free prostate screenings at Jersey Shore Hospital. Approximately 750 fourth through sixth grade students of the school district were given Grandparents' Day cards to present to their grandparents. Invitations were placed inside the cards announcing the free mammogram and prostate screenings.
As women age, their chances of breast cancer rise substantially, going from 1 in 247 at the age of 40 to 1 in 10 by the age of 80. Prostate cancer also is a disease more commonly detected in men over the age of 60.
Acknowledging the dangers these cancers cause to the elderly population, Lou Ditzel, Hospital president and chief executive officer, emphasizes the Hospital's willingness to offer a community outreach initiative that has a greater likelihood of reaching the older population in the community.
"The Grandparents' Day celebration program is our latest community outreach effort to focus on those individuals who may benefit most from our initiative to preserve and enhance the health of our community. By providing the 'Mammies for Grammies' and 'Prostates for Pappies,' we are ensuring that a healthcare need in our communities is being addressed," says Ditzel.
"If it is successful, the Grandparents' Day could become an annual event, suggests Cindy Grenninger, manager of Community Health and Outreach Services at Jersey Shore Hospital.
"We encourage every at-risk woman to have a mammogram screening and each at-risk grandfather to attend the free prostate screening," adds Grenninger. "These initiatives serve to increase awareness and permit individuals to take responsibility for their own health and wellness. The people who participate in the program tell their friends who in turn tell their friends, and so on," she says.
Jersey Shore Hospital is an FDA-accredited provider of mammography services and has promoted breast cancer awareness programs for the past two years. Included in the Hospital's programming is a mobile screening program for "at risk" women in Clinton and Lycoming Counties. The Hospital notes that these efforts have helped to identify potentially serious problems in 25 women since 1999.
This past May the Hospital sponsored "Mammograms for Mommies," at neighboring Keystone Central School District. Sixth grade students were provided with Mothers' Day cards which contained an invitation for all eligible mothers to schedule a free mammogram screening at the Hospital.
"We are extremely happy and proud of the number of lives we may have impacted with "Mammograms for Mommies,' says Grenninger. "We are hoping to continue expanding our successful preventive healthcare efforts with the start of the Grandparents' Day program."
With her schoolmates looking on, Sadie Schneider, a fifth grader at Jersey Shore Elementary School, accepts a Grandparents' Day card from Jason Shade, Jersey Shore Hospital's Public Relations Director. The card, which was part of the Hospital's community outreach initiative called "Mammies for Grammies" and "Prostates for Pappies" contained a special invitation for Sadie's grandparents to have cancer screenings performed at the Hospital over the next coming weeks. Sunday, September 9 marked National Grandparents' Day.
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