'Sisters' Celebrate 100 African American Women In Philadelphia Making Strides In Health & Wellness

Feb. 14, 2012 - PRLog -- THE NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED “PRIME TIME SISTER CIRCLES” will celebrate its’ first Philadelphia class in a ceremony on Saturday February 18, 2012,at 8pm, at First District Headquarters located at 3801 Market Street. Tickets are $45. More than 100 African American women successfully completed the health intervention program and will be recognized in a special banquet celebration that will include music and dancing. The “Prime Time Sister Circles” empowered the women to “Create a Legacy of Wellness” through a series of workshops. The women met for twelve, two hours sessions each week and participated in interactive lessons focusing on stress management techniques, increased physical activity, and improved nutrition. The classes were lead by specially trained women from the Philadelphia community who were paid a stipend. The “Prime Time Sister Circles” were founded by internationally recognized Dr. Marilyn Gaston and Dr. Gayle Porter of the Gaston & Porter Health Improvement Center in Washington, DC (http://www.gastonandporter.org ). The esteemed doctors were in Philadelphia last June for the Black Women’s Health Alliance “Creating a Legacy of Wellness: Mind Body & Spirit” kick-off campaign designed to engage city and community leaders so they become concerned about the health of their constituents. Those leaders were also encouraged to begin instituting wellness activities and programs in their arenas.
Saturday’s celebration will also pay tribute to two of Philadelphia’s warriors in the area of black women’s health: Janet Cash and Brita Hudson-Smith. Both women passed away this past year after brief illnesses. Smith was the former Executive Director of the Black Women’s Health Project and also worked for Planned Parenthood and University of Pennsylvania Hospital. Cash was a breast cancer survivor and co-founded the Sisters-in-Touch Breast Cancer Awareness Program; she worked tirelessly advocating the treatment and eradication of breast cancer, conducted support groups and provided breast cancer awareness and advocacy training.
The “Prime Time Sister Circles”: are FREE and open to any African American woman aged 40-70 who is interested in improving her own health and, at the same time, reversing the negative health trends that plague the African-American Community. “Obesity is at the core of almost every major chronic health problem we face including diabetes, heart and kidney disease, and depression” says Brenda Shelton-Dunston, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Black Women’s Health Alliance (http://pbwha.org) which organized the “Prime Time Sister Circles” in Philadelphia. “We have to do something to reverse this negative trend toward unhealthy lifestyles in the African American Community,” says Brenda Shelton-Dunston. “The Prime Time Sister Circles” is the first in a series of events we have planned at getting Philadelphia’s African American Community healthier.”    
For more information on the Primetime Sister Circles celebration banquet on February 18, contact the Black Women’s Health Alliance at (215) 382-3292. All media inquiries should be directed to Leslie Patterson-Tyler at Leslie@TylerMadePR.com or (609) 247-2632.

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