Tuesday roundup

by: ctblogger

Tue Jan 22, 2013 at 12:52:17 PM EST

• As we celebrate 40th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade case, here's a peek at life before women had the right the choose.



• Seems like Don Pecsi has been hanging around with Martha Dean...maybe they can compare their tin foil hats...his latest list of rambling questions on the Sandy Hook tragedy is a joke and reeks of trutherism.


• Immigration reform NOW!
  

  As President Obama began his second term Monday with a pledge for greater equality and opportunity, New Haven activists called on him to finish the job on immigration reform.

  Some 40 people gathered on the steps of the federal courthouse on Church Street on Monday to call on President Obama to work to follow through on his first-term promise to fix the nation's broken immigration system.

  Holding signs and banners, the demonstrators chanted through megaphones as snowflakes fell and the sun set.

  The event, part of a national day of action on immigration reform, was organized by a coalition of activist groups including Unidad Latina en Accion, the Unitarian Society of New Haven, and Yale Divinity School Seminarians for a Democratic Society.



• Ernest Newton campaign strategist running for Mayor of Norwalk?
  

  Norwalk resident Vinny Mangiacopra has mounted a campaign to seek the office of Mayor in 2013.
  Mangiacopra, District D Democrats chairman, filed paperwork at City Hall on Tuesday morning. His campaign committee, "Norwalk's Future Now" has been registered with the Town Clerk's office.
  "I'm excited," said Mangiacopra. "I look forward to bringing an energy and sense of urgency to the race. The people of Norwalk are ready for change and a fresh perspective, many feel it's long overdue."



• Comptroller Kevin Lembo wants you to MAN UP!
  

  In 1920, women lived, on average, one year longer than men. Now men, on average, die almost six years earlier than women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

  It's a long-known fact, but we rarely consider the reasons - or acknowledge that there's a solution to closing this gap.

  In addition to dying younger, men are also more likely to develop the most serious chronic conditions. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), men are 50 percent more likely than women to die of cancer, and almost twice as many men as women die of heart disease.

  Despite these facts, women are 100 percent more likely to visit the doctor for annual examinations and preventative services than men, according to the CDC.

  Our reasons as men are as varied as we are: Busy Schedules - Impatience - Cost - Fear - We Prefer to "Tough it Out."

  Women could use the same script to escape preventative care, but, on average, they don't.

  So why is this? On January 23, we will have a unique opportunity in Connecticut to put our collective minds together and answer some of these basic questions.

  As part of Man Up, a statewide men's health initiative that I recently launched (www.osc.ct.gov/manup), I will moderate a Man Up Roundtable - a discussion uniting health-care providers, carriers, patient advocates and patients from throughout Connecticut to drill down into the basic challenges surrounding men's health.

  I encourage anyone with an interest in this issue to join our audience and consider this problem more closely.

  Specifically, the Man Up Roundtable will dig into four topics:

  · The male patient perspective on health care:  Why are men, on average, more reluctant to seek preventative care? What is the male perspective on health care and how does that influence the gender disparity?

  · Provider perspective:  Let's hear from hospitals and community health centers about the ramifications for lack of preventative care, and what challenges they face in outreach to men.

  · The carriers' role: For those men who have access to health benefits, what tools do carriers have to steer men to available services?

  · Eliminating disparities for minority men:  For minority men, the health care disparity grows deeper. We'll hear from both patients and providers about what barriers have helped create this gap, and what can be done to eliminate it.