STUDENTS DISCOURAGE TOBACCO USE

Originally published March 25, 2009, 5:08 PM – Updated 5:09 PM, March 25, 2009

By Nicholas C. Stern
News-Post Staff

A dozen or more Frederick County middle and high school students gathered this afternoon to encourage their parents and peers to stop using tobacco products.

The event, at Rita’s Italian Ice shop on South Street, was supported in part by the Frederick County Teens Coalition Against Tobacco, and the Minority Outreach and Technical Assistance program of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

A brief skit in Rita’s parking lot featuring an oversized cigarette that attempted to entice and ensnare a teenager in its grasp. An assortment of anti-tobacco pamphlets were among the promotional efforts of volunteers.

Students also signed a poster pledging their eternal cessation from tobacco use in all of its forms on the day they designated “Kick Butts Day.”

For more on this story, check out Thursday’s edition of The Frederick News-Post.

DOCTORS HOST HEALTH FAIR

Doctors host Asian-American health fair
Originally published May 17, 2008

By Nicholas C. Stern
News-Post Staff

LIFE and Discovery, a nonprofit educational corporation, will host Frederick County’s first Asian-American health fair Sunday at Hillcrest Elementary School.

C.P. Choudari, a local physician who specializes in diseases more prevalent in Asian-Americans, is chairman of the event.

The idea is to increase awareness among Asian-American families by providing them with clinical education and free screenings, including body mass indexes, blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels, bone density, hearing and vision and dental hygiene, he said.

Chan-Hing Ho, who helped organize the health fair, said free literature will focus on recognizing symptoms and risks associated with diabetes, hypertension, obesity, osteoporosis, cancer and a host of other illnesses.

Explanatory videos will demonstrate a colonoscopy and how to administer a self breast examination, Ho said.

Choudari said Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, Indian and Chinese interpreters will be available at the registration desk.

Elizabeth Chung, executive director of LIFE and Discovery, said everyone is welcome, and physicians who speak Spanish will be present.

The first 25 people who sign in and fill out a questionnaire will receive a $10 gift certificate to a local grocery story, Choudari said. For children, the health fair will have games, arts and crafts.

Choudari said he hopes the fair will become an annual May event, to coincide with Asian heritage month.