Win a 2018 Polaris Ranger

SEYMOUR- Project Purple and the Team Carone Foundation are joining forces in the name of pancreatic cancer research by raffling off a 2018 Polaris Ranger 900 in sage green with power steering.

Tickets to win the utility vehicle which is valued at over $13,600 will be sold at $100 per entry in order to benefit the Rick Carone Fellowship Grant for pancreatic cancer research at the University of Chicago Medicine. Only 250 tickets are being sold.

Rick Carone and his family founded the Team Carone Foundation in 2014 after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Carone passed away from the disease in June of 2017.

Dino Verrelli, founder and CEO of Project Purple, knew Carone personally and often worked with Rick on fundraising efforts, so it was only natural for Project Purple to join the Team Carone Foundation in funding the RIck Carone Fellowship Grant.

“This is just another way to fulfill Rick’s desire of shutting down cancer,” Verrelli said.

Those interested in participating in the raffle can call the Project Purple Office at 203-714-6052 or email dino@projectpurple.org to purchase tickets which are on sale now.

The winner will be drawn on September 22 at the Team Carone Foundation’s #Shutdowncancer Music Festival in McHenry, Illinois. However, Project Purple guarantees delivery to their office at 115 Main Street in Seymour, CT so there is no need to drive to Illinois.

Check out Projectpurple.org or Project Purple’s Facebook or Instagram pages to learn more about how you can join the fight against pancreatic cancer.

 

(This is a press release from Project Purple)

Shred Unwanted Paper for a Good Cause

SEYMOUR - Project Purple is bringing Shred-it, a shredder truck, to downtown Seymour on Saturday, July 28 to provide local Connecticut residents and businesses with an opportunity to dispose of their unwanted personal papers to benefit pancreatic cancer research and patient financial aid. 

Project Purple asks that those interested bring boxes of paper they would like to shred to 115 Main St. between 8 and 11 a.m. for a recommended $10 donation per box.  

2 Bills Grill, a food truck from Fairfield, will be selling sandwiches at the event.

More details about this event can be found on Project Purple’s Facebook page. The nonprofit has a Facebook event page called “Shred for a Cause.”

Check out Projectpurple.org or Project Purple’s Facebook or Instagram pages to learn how you can join the fight against pancreatic cancer.

Volunteers Needed for MS, Sleep Study

DERBY - The Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Center, both located at Griffin Hospital, 130 Division St., Derby, are seeking volunteers for a study on Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and insomnia.

 

This study will compare mindfulness meditation to sleep hygiene counseling in treating insomnia and improving quality of life in individuals with MS.

 

“Many people with MS suffer from chronic insomnia, and some of the medications used to treat insomnia can have adverse effects,” said Joseph B. Guarnaccia, MD, Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Center director. “Therefore, it is desirable to find alternative treatments for insomnia. The potential role of mindfulness – which is focusing full attention on the present moment without judgment - in affecting sleep has not yet been studied in people with MS.”

 

To participate, volunteers must be adults with a diagnosis of MS who suffer from chronic insomnia. They must be willing to come to Griffin Hospital for three assessments throughout the study, and to attend a weekly, two-hour training session for eight weeks and one eight-hour weekend session, and wear a Fitbit activity monitor (provided to volunteers) for several weeks to record their sleep data.

 

Volunteers will be randomly assigned to training on either mindfulness or sleep hygiene, which will be offered at either Griffin Hospital or the Yale Stress Center.  They will receive $200 for their role in the training and assessment, which will be provided free of charge. This study is funded by a grant from the State of Connecticut’s Biomedical Research Trust Fund. 

 

For information, call 203-732-1265, extension 220 for Sue, or extension 300 for Rockiy.

 

About The Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center

The Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center (PRC) is committed to research pertaining to the primary, secondary, & tertiary prevention of chronic disease that is responsive to the priorities of the Lower Naugatuck Valley residents, the residents of Connecticut’s major cities, and other communities throughout the state. The center is dedicated to participatory research methods, to a robust research agenda inclusive of developmental/determinant, intervention, and translational research; to community involvement in public health; to the eradication of disparities in health and health care in the communities served; and to the dissemination of effective interventions in support of the national objectives of Healthy People

 

(This is a press release from Griffin Hospital)

Seymour Paints the Town Pink

SEYMOUR - "Seymour Pink Day" was celebrated in town Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Town businesses and residents decked out their storefronts and homes in shades of pink to show support and raise awareness about breast cancer.

Seymour Pink was founded in 2009 by Mary Deming, and to date has raised more than
$1 million for breast cancer research and to help individuals and families battling the disease. More information can be found online at: http://www.seymourpink.com/

(Photos courtesy of my friend and former New Haven Register colleague Patti Villers)

Crisco supports Malloy's UConn initiative

Plan would yield top-tier research university

HARTFORD – State Sen. Joseph J. Crisco, D-Woodbridge, a University of Connecticut alumnus and former trustee, voted Saturday with an overwhelming majority of his Senate colleagues to approve Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s Next Generation Connecticut proposal.

The proposal would expand science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) academic and research programs at the state’s flagship university.

Crisco said over the next 10 years the initiative would develop a highly skilled Connecticut workforce, stimulate economic growth in the state, and create jobs.

“This ‘next generation’ proposal will build upon Connecticut’s strengths and successful in-state industries by training a technologically advanced workforce and attracting research funding and private sector investment alike,” Crisco said. “The foresight built into this plan will yield a preeminent, nationally recognized center for 21^st century higher learning.”

The plan authorizes $1.55 billion in new bonding over the next 10 years, positioning the university to hire innovative faculty, build new facilities and enroll thousands of additional talented students. 

Specifics of the plan include:

• Hiring 259 new faculty members (of which 200 will be in STEM).
• Enrolling an additional 6,580 talented undergraduate students.
• Building STEM facilities to house materials science, physics, biology, engineering, cognitive science, genomics and related disciplines.
• Constructing new STEM teaching laboratories.
• Creating a premier STEM Honors program.
• Upgrading aging infrastructure to accommodate new faculty and students.
• Expanding digital media and risk management degree programs in Stamford.
• Relocating the Greater Hartford Campus to downtown Hartford.

Crisco said over the next 10 years, UConn’s expansion and focus on STEM is expected to attract $270 million for research and more than $500 million in business activity to Connecticut. 

The proposal will create an estimated 30,000 construction jobs and support some 4,050 permanent jobs.

SB840, An Act Concerning Next Generation Connecticut, now advances to the House of Representatives for its consideration.


This information is taken from a press release from Crisco's office.

Crisco, health official announce $3M to fund research projects

Studies to focus on chronic illnesses
 

State Sen. Joseph J. Crisco, D-Woodbridge, and the state Department of Public Health Deputy Commissioner Lisa Davis recently announced recipients of state funding for biomedical research into diseases associated with tobacco use and other chronic illnesses.

A total of $3,010,611 was awarded this year by the Connecticut Department of Public Health from the state’s Biomedical Research Trust Fund. 

These funds will support nine research projects conducted by researchers from the UCONN Health Center, and Yale University.

The Biomedical Research Trust Fund awards are just one example of Connecticut’s ongoing investment in the growing field of bioscience. 

Earlier this year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed the Bioscience Innovation Act which, over 10 years, will establish a $200 million fund to strengthen Connecticut’s bio science sector.

“These grants awarded today – part of an annual program to help underwrite cutting edge, health-related research – are consistent with what seems to be a growing and accelerating emphasis on comparable projects in Connecticut,” Crisco said. 

“We have recently agreed to invest in an overhaul of the UConn Health Center and provide economic development funding for Jackson Labs – it’s gratifying to know Connecticut plans to continue setting the pace in health-related research throughout the foreseeable future.”

“These projects were selected from a field of highly competitive applications received in response to a Request for Proposals issued by the department last summer,” Davis said.  

“The funds made available through the Biomedical Research Trust Fund represent an investment in Connecticut-based research that is providing new insight into how to treat and prevent leading causes of death and disability.”

With this eighth round of proposals funded by DPH, nearly $14.5 million has been awarded to Connecticut research institutions for the purpose of funding biomedical research into tobacco-related diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

In 2000, the Biomedical Research Trust Fund was established by the Connecticut General Assembly to fund biomedical research into tobacco-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. 

The trust fund may accept transfers from the Tobacco Settlement Fund. Non-profit, tax-exempt academic institutions of higher education or hospitals that conduct biomedical research are eligible to apply for these funds. 

In 2010 P.A. 10-136 expanded the scope of research funded by the trust fund to include Alzheimer's disease and diabetes research.

According to state health officials, tobacco is the single most preventable cause of mortality and morbidity in our society. 

In Connecticut, tobacco use is associated with more than 5,000 deaths per year. These deaths are primarily caused by cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

An estimated 6.9 percent of the Connecticut adult population or approximately 186,000 adults age 18 years and older have been diagnosed with diabetes. An additional 93,000 Connecticut adults are estimated to have undiagnosed diabetes.

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States. It is the sixth leading cause of death among American adults, and the fifth leading cause of death for adults aged 65 years and older.

This information is taken from a press release from Crisco's office.

Taking steps to fight lupus

Valley native walks in honor of lifelong friend, former student

Alliance for Lupus Research

 

On Saturday Ansonia resident Laura Poquette will be hosting the fifth annual walk to benefit the Alliance for Lupus Research.

The fund-raising goal is $15,000; all of the money received goes to the Alliance to support research into the causes of the chronic disease.

The event will be held rain or shine at Jarvis Field in the Nolan Athletic Complex on Wakelee Avenue in Ansonia.

Poquette's daughter, Erika Poquette, 21, was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease when she was in eighth grade. She is now about to enter her senior year at Providence College and her mom said she is doing well and holding her own.

Laura Poquette said last night she works on organizing the event for an entire year.

She gets breakfast and lunch donated for the walkers, offers fantastic raffle prizes, and sets up inflatables for children as well as a dunk tank.

There will be an auction and music by DJ John Voket. News 8 personality Erica Grow will be the emcee.

Derby resident Ellen Baczek Amodeo takes part in the walk each year in honor of her lifelong friend, Margie Kofarago Thomas of Shelton.

She said Thomas, who worked as an intensive care nurse, was diagnosed about 14 years ago. She is no longer able to work, Amodeo said.

Amodeo, an Ansonia native, said she and Thomas, both 61, used to sit on the porch at Thomas' family home in Shelton when they were young "and think about what our lives would be like."

Things didn't quite work out as they had planned, she said. Amodeo was widowed, and Thomas was diagnosed with lupus. She said there are degrees of severity of lupus, and Thomas has a more serious form.

Amodeo used to teach at the former St. Joseph School in Ansonia and Erika Poquette was in her first grade class, she said. She also taught Erika's younger brother, Tyler Poquette.

Amodeo said participating in the walkathon means a lot, "especially if you know someone" affected by lupus. She said she didn't know much about the disease prior to her friend's diagnosis.

Laura Poquette said she is hoping for a big turnout for the walk. "Our fund-raising is down $2,000 from this time last year," she said.

Registration is at 9 a.m. and the 5K (3.1-mile) walk steps off at 10 a.m.

I had the pleasure of meeting Erika Poquette when she was a student at Ansonia High School. She is a bright and vivacious young woman and I wish her all the best in her future career. I hope this year's event is the most successful one to date.

Amodeo said even if people prefer not to walk, she hoped they would attend to support the event. "Laura works all year for this. I want it to be a success for her," Amodeo said.