Women's health symposium

My thanks to Lisa Bane and Michelle Berkey of the Wound Care Center at Community General Hospital for their coordination of (and participation in) the CNY Women’s Health Fair & Symposium, held last Saturday at Onondaga Community College.

The event was organized by Congressman Jim Walsh (NY-25) and featured an address by Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Gerberding gave us a high level view of the CDC. She also shared with us a scary story of her recent trip to Africa when she donned protective gear and entered a cave with CDC scientists. The CDC was seeking the source of Marburg virus, after several cases were identified in the area's population. Wow! That story was right out of Hot Zone by Richard Preston!

That’s Lisa Bane in the photo with Congressman Walsh, above, from last Saturday.

And that's the Congressman and Mrs. Walsh in the photo at left, as they help to cut the ribbon in December 2004 to open the Jim and DeDe Walsh Family Birth Center at CGH.

The center was made possible, in part, because of a $1 million federal grant secured by the Congressman. In appreciation for the grant, CGH named the center in honor of the Walsh family.