Get In Touch Girls' Program launches in Milford, CT schools!

[Mary Ann]

Woo-Hoo!! It's official! The Get In Touch Girls' Program had its inaugural launch in Milford, CT schools on Tuesday, May 12th! Pumpkin Delight School Nurse Deb Smith (pictured above) addressed the group of dignitaries that included former CT Speaker of the House Jim Amann, Milford Mayor Jim Richetelli, Milford School Superintendent Harvey Polansky and Peggy Kelly from Milford Kids Count.

If you haven't seen the beautiful article that Noelle Frampton from the Connecticut Post wrote, I've included it below, along with Autumn Pinette's photograph of me and our "Giant Demo Daisy Wheel!"

Lots of work went into this day and I'd be remiss if I didn't thank my fabuloso Board of Directors for their commitment and dedication to "changing the world one girl at a time!"

Super-Nurse Joan Cagginello, Nursing Director for the City of Milford, along with Dr. A. Dennis McBride, Milford's Public Health Director, are our biggest fans and greatest allies! They believe in the Get In Touch Girls' Program and were delighted to have the national launch take place right here in Milford! Our gratitude is immeasurable!

A special thanks to our friend, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, for her support and promise to help us bring the Get In Touch Girls' Program to a national level, saying, "I know that “Get In Touch Girls” will become a national model for girls’ health education." We do, too!

Most importantly, we thank the School Nurses - none of this would be possible without them. They are my heroes.

Hope Lives!
Mary Ann

Girls 'Get In Touch' with cancer awareness
By Noelle Frampton
STAFF WRITER
Updated: 05/12/2009 09:34:58 PM EDT

Mary Ann Wasil Nilan, breast cancer survivor and founder of The Get in Touch Foundation, talks about the launching of her organization which educates young girls on the importance of breast self-exams Tuesday in Milford.

MILFORD -- When Mary Ann Wasil Nilan was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago, she immediately thought of her two adolescent daughters. What did it mean for them?

Nilan, a Milford resident, thought of how she had discovered the lump after years of faithful self-examination and how, after a negative mammogram, a doctor told her to come back in a year. The doctor was annoyed when she insisted on a biopsy, but it was a good thing she did: She had an aggressive form of cancer.

"If I had waited a year I wouldn't be here," she said. "Get in touch with your body to the point that you are your own best advocate."

That's the message that Nilan and the Get in Touch Foundation she started hope to convey to girls in fifth through 12th grades in Milford.

The campaign goes statewide in October, nationwide in 2011 and perhaps global at some point in the future.

On Tuesday, two years after it incorporated, the nonprofit launched a pilot of its Daisy Wheel program for girls at Pumpkin Delight School, where Principal Deborah Herbst is also a breast cancer survivor.

The program, which will be offered free in all Milford schools, incorporates information about regular breast self-examinations into the health and development curriculum for girls, such as introduction to puberty in fifth grade, according to Nilan and school nurse Deborah Smith.

Nilan and others said early detection is key, and girls as young as 10 have been diagnosed with the disease.

Using a hand-held pink daisy design that Nilan said was selected by focus groups of girls ranging in age from 8 to 18, the program outlines how girls can feel for breast abnormalities and urges them to tell someone they trust if they discover anything out of the ordinary.

"I think it's great to introduce this to them at this age," Smith said. "They'll feel so much more confident and comfortable and it'll become part of their routine." Several officials, including Mayor James L Richetelli Jr., Supt. of Schools Harvey Polansky and former House Speaker James A. Amann, pledged their support for the program at Tuesday's launch.

The Association of School Nurses of Connecticut also endorsed the program and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, a cancer survivor herself, sent a letter praising it.

Herbst, who was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago this November, said she was thrilled to mark the event at Pumpkin Delight.

"It's personal for me," she said, her eyes welling with tears. "I said to myself, 'If I can help one girl through this program, it would've been worth what I went through.' If we can start educating them now, when they get older it'll be like brushing their teeth."

Nilan said the foundation raised enough money to start the program in Milford through its "Get Your Pink on Day" last October, and will continue to seek funds so that it can be offered free in October to all schools in the state that want to participate. Danbury, she said, is already on board.

One dollar buys two "Daisy Wheels," she said.

Maggie McAndrew, whose mother is president of the foundation, said she never thought about breast cancer before seeing Nilan go through it, but now she's aware. "It really shows me how important examining your body is," the 14-year-old said after the launch ceremony. "I'm excited to see other girls get to learn about the program. The more schools we can get it in, the better."

For more information, visit www.getintouchfoundation.org.

[Mary Ann]

My darling daughters...and the impetus for Get In Touch.

[Mary Ann]

GIT Board of Directors Extraordinaire! Zinelle Peterson, our Super-Wow web designer, and Suzanne Manning - my "office mate," gal pal and GIT's Vice President!

[Mary Ann]

Pumpkin Delight School Principal and Survivor Sister Deborah Herbst addresses the guests.

[Mary Ann]

Former CT Speaker of the House Jim Amann, Moi, Milford Mayor Jim Richetelli and GIT Board Member Tom Ptaszynski.

[Mary Ann]

Here I am with Joan Cagginello, Nursing Director for the City of Milford - and Get In Touch's #1 Fan!

[Mary Ann]

Peggy Kelly from Milford Kids Count, Get In Touch Foundation President, Karen Moran McAndrew, and GIT Youth Ambassador Board Members Maggie McAndrew and Kiley Cappetta.