AARP Member
Offline 
My Badges
Create The Good
Background
Walgreens Wellness Tour Comes to VirginiaAARP CAMPAIGN CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF GRANDPARENTS DAY
AARP CELEBRATES 30TH
ANNIVERSARY OF GRANDPARENTS DAY WITH GRANDMOTHERS CAMPAIGN FOR
HEALTHY GRANDCHILDREN
RICHMOND
_ As the Grandparents Day national
holiday enters its fourth decade on September 13, AARP honors the
nation’s 70 million grandparents with the debut of the
Grandmothers Campaign for Healthy Grandchildren.
By harnessing the power of
grandparents, AARP Virginia is launching an effort to make sure
children get off to a healthy start. The Grandmothers Campaign
is a call to action for all grandmothers to help reduce infant
mortality and make sure their grandchildren thrive during the first
years of life. AARP developed the project in collaboration with
the Virginia Department of Health.
“Grandparents play a vital
role in families, and can be an important resource for young parents
seeking information about infant health,” said Bill Kallio,
AARP Virginia State Director. “The person with the
strongest emotional influence on the new mother is the child’s grandmother.”
Thirty years ago when President
Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation declaring Grandparents Day a
national holiday, he was recognizing "the importance and worth
of the 17 million grandparents in our nation." Three
decades later, the number of grandparents have more than quadrupled,
adding emphasis to Carter’s 1979 statement that,
"Grandparents are our continuing tie to the near-past, to the
events and beliefs and experiences that so strongly affect our lives
and the world around us."
Each month about
75,000 Americans age 45-69 become grandparents and 80 million people
will have grandchildren by 2010. The average age of becoming a
grandparent is 50 years for women. Those women can help enhance
their grandchildren’s health by being a resource for their
daughters during pregnancy and during the first years of their
grandchildren’s lives.
“Infant mortality is an
unseen epidemic,” said Virginia State Health Commissioner
Karen Remley, M.D., MBA. “The Grandmothers Campaign for
Healthy Grandchildren underscores the importance grandmothers can
play in providing common-sense advice to daughters about prenatal
care and caring for a newborn.”
The goal of the Grandmothers
Campaign is to cut Virginia’s infant mortality rate, currently
the 30th highest in the nation. Grandmothers and
others interested in helping can spread the word through faith
organizations, civic organizations and other community
groups. Those who join the campaign will:
- receive the latest information about women’s health, prenatal care and safe sleep,
- have tools needed to engage young women in important family conversations, and
- be connected to a statewide network of grandmothers who share experiences, learn about infant health and get answers to important health questions.
The Grandmothers Campaign uses the
Internet with an online community where participates can network
with other grandmothers across the commonwealth. To find out
more about the Grandmothers Campaign and sign up for the online
community visit www.aarp.org/va
. The website includes “conversation starters”
– printed documents with information on important health
topics that grandmothers can share with their daughters.
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence,
choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to
them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates
for public office or make contributions to either political
campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, the
definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world's
largest-circulation magazine with over 35.5 million readers; AARP
Bulletin, the go-to news source for AARP's 40 million members and
Americans 50+; AARP Segunda Juventud, the only bilingual U.S.
publication dedicated exclusively to the 50+ Hispanic community;
and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated
charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to
older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers,
donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50
states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
There are no comments for this item.
journal Details
Added: Sep 9, 2009
Views: 115
Comments: 0
Bookmarks: 0
Views: 115
Comments: 0
Bookmarks: 0
Groups
No groups selected.
