Members of Voices for a Healthy SouthCoast, of which Healthy City Fall River is a part, met with Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) staff on January 24, 2011 to continue the planning process for preventing cancer in fifteen SouthCoast communities. Research has demonstrated that cancer can be prevented by healthy behavior changes and early screening that promotes healthier eating, increased physical activity and reduced use of tobacco.  The Massachusetts Comprehensive Cancer Prevention and Control Program, recently received a five-year cancer prevention grant that now funds a full-time coordinator to work with VOICES over the next five years to address the high levels of obesity and tobacco use and the low level of physical activity found among residents of SouthCoast communities including Fall River, New Bedford and Wareham. Most cancer rates are higher in Fall River and New Bedford than the rest of the state. Click here for photos of previous VOICES planning meetings. To learn more about becoming involved In VOICES, contact Nancy Bonell at 508-996-9622 X 25. For more information about the cancer prevention project policy coordinator Maria Evora-Rosa at the Southeast Regional Office of DPH at 508-984-0618.
 

(Top row, left and center) Southeast Massachusetts cancer control policy coordinator Maria Evora-Rosa opens the planning meeting held at the DPH office on Purchase Street in New Bedford. (Top row, right) Dr. Joshua Nyambose, senior scientist and policy advisor for DPH, reviews the finding of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in New Bedford and Fall River to set the stage for the discussion. (Middle row, left) Judith Coykendall, director of Partners for Clean Air, a program of Seven Hills Behavioral Health, describes some of the current tobacco prevention programs in place in the SouthCoast as Maya Mohan of the Mass In Motion (MIM) project and Gail Merriam of the DPH cancer prevention program listen. (Middle row, right) Southcoast  tobacco control program coordinator Marilyn Edge listens as Fall River MIM coordinator, Julie Kelly, describes some of the projects that are addressing food supply and the built environment. (Bottom row) Intern Angela Bannister and Pauline Hamel, coordinator of New Bedford's MIM project, enjoy a lighter moment in the discussion along with Maria Evora-Rosa, Dr. Nyambose, Southeast DMH regional health office director Ron O'Connor, DPH contract manager Snaltze Pierre, and DPH Tobacco Control program prevention coordinator Patty Henley. Other meeting participants included YMCA Southcoast COO/VP Operations and ACHIEVE coach Nancy Bonell, Southcoast Hospitals Cardiac Prevention Program coordinator Donna Querim, Southcoast Hospitals community benefits coordinator Kerry Mello, New Bedford Department of Public Health director Marianne DeSouza, DPH community liaison coordinator Lea Susan Ojamaa, DPH health communications director Maxene Spolidoro, Healthy City Fall River coordinator David Weed, and DPH administrative clerk Andrea Keddie.