Sandy, the storm that reached 900 miles wide, carried wind speeds of more than 90 mph, caused billions of dollars in damage and claimed at least 55 lives, will no doubt be recorded as one of the worst natural disasters to hit the east coast.

One local OB/GYN is doing its part to help victims of the storm get back on their feet. Healthy Woman OB/GYN, located in Freehold with a satellite office in Colts Neck, is working diligently to provide patients and members of the community with the care and support they need.

Starting Monday, November 5, 2012, Healthy Woman Ob/GYN and Pop Weight Loss (formerly A Better You ) will be an official donation site for the Salvation Army, in both Freehold and Colts Neck. They will be collecting desperately needed items for women and babies in the community, including everything from clothing to diapers and formula.

“Our whole community has been tragically affected by Sandy, and we want to make sure that we are able to provide healthcare and desperately needed items to those in need,” says Dr. Rebecca Cipriano, owner of Healthy Woman OB/GYN and founder of Pop Weight Loss.

With most of New Jersey and New York struggling to pick up the pieces after last week’s storm, Healthy Woman OB/GYN has opened its doors to the entire community, both patients and non patients, for the month of November.

“We have completely waived the need for appointments to help better accommodate those who need medical attention,” Dr. Rebecca Cipriano says. “It is important that those who need medical attention get to see a doctor, whether they are a patient of ours or not. We are all in this together, as a community, and we are excited to be able to offer our services to those in need.”

Healthy Woman OB/GYN is asking that these opportunities for donation and healthcare be shared with members of the community, family and friends, as many are still without power and access to online resources.

Shira has since relapsed and is undergoing a new chemotherapy treatment in hopes of entering into remission. This time, she will need a stem cell donor, and is desperately seeking a match within the community.

In hopes of helping Shira find a donor, Healthy Woman OB/GYN is now an official continuous donation site, starting Tuesday, for bone marrow donors in hopes that one of the 40,000+ patients might be a match for Shira Klein.

 “We are very excited that we are able to offer on-site donations to our patients,” says Dr. Rebecca Cipriano. The Ciprianos work very closely with Mr. Klein, Shira’s husband. “We are dedicated to helping Shira find a match, and are excited to invite our patients to help.”

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, formerly known as Hodgkin’s disease, is a cancer of the lymphatic system. This affects the immune system, and causes the cells in the lymphatic system to grow abnormally.

In Shira’s case, a stem cell transplant is needed to replace the diseased bone marrow with healthy stem cells that help grow new bone marrow. A stem cell transplant is usually an option if Hodgkin’s lymphoma returns despite treatment.

As a continuous donation site, Healthy Woman OB/GYN patient’s will be given the opportunity to be a stem cell donor. By meeting the requirements and agreeing to be a stem cell donor, each patient has the potential to provide Shira with the life-saving stem cells she desperately needs.

Through DKMS, the largest bone marrow registry in the world and an organization dedicated to swabbing potential donors, Healthy Woman OB/GYN is able to have kits available on site to swab anyone interested in helping Shira find her donor.

“We hope through these efforts Shira is able to find a match and continue to inspire her community with her remarkable story.”

Schedule a time at Healthy Woman OB/GYN to get swabbed today!

For more information about Shira, please visit www.facebook.com/Smiles4Shira

For the next two weeks, Healthy Woman OB/GYN will be donating $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund for every “Like” our Facebook Page receives.

Not on Facebook? Healthy Woman OB/GYN will also donate $1 for every Twitter retweet about the cause.

Hurry, the deadline is September 30th!

Ovarian cancer is a disease in which malignant or cancerous cells are found in the ovaries, two small almond-shaped organs that store eggs or germ cells and produce female hormones estrogen and progesterone.

In women age 35-74, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. An estimated 1 in 71 will develop ovarian cancer during her lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be over 22,000 new cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed this year and that more than 15,000 women will die from ovarian cancer this year.

According to The American Cancer Society data, the mortality rates for ovarian cancer have not improved in forty years. Unfortunately, due to ovarian cancer’s non-specific symptoms and lack of early detection tests, only 19% of all cases are found at the early stage, making ovarian cancer the deadliest of all gynecologic cancers.

Risks factors can include genetic disposition and a personal or family history of cervical, ovarian or colon cancers. Women who think they might be at high risk for ovarian or breast cancer should undergo genetic counseling, offered through your physician at Healthy Woman OB/GYN in both their Freehold and Colts Neck locations.

For more information about ovarian cancer or genetic counseling, contact Healthy Woman OB/GYN to set up an appointment and speak to your physician.

When it comes to what to be thankful for, nothing trumps your health. Money, love, success, personal goals—none of them are possible without good health to give them rise.

In this time of reflection and thanks, you might consider paying it forward by supporting a worthy cause that helps women who, perhaps, have not been as fortunate as you in health department.

Here are a five fantastic ones to consider:

Best for Babes

A revolutionary, paradigm-changing organization that’s helping women beat the Booby Traps (as they call oh so cleverly call them) that prevent moms from achieving their own personal breastfeeding goals, Best for Babes is giving breastfeeding a makeover. From women’s health to women’s rights, Best for Babes is on the forefront of freeing women from the shackles of misinformation and judgment that are so deeply ingrained in our popular consciousness and serve to disempower women at the most crucial time in their lives. This is feminism 2.0: Giving women back their power to take care of themselves and their babies, emotionally, physically and spiritually, and, by proxy, nurture future generations on all levels too. To support, go to www.BestforBabes.org.

Breast Cancer Research Foundation

89% of funding goes to programs that award research grants to experts seeking prevention methods and treatments. No big business here—just a steadfast determination to find a cure by investing in prevention. The BCRF’s funds have fostered some of the field’s biggest discoveries of late, including uncovering that women of African decent often have a genetically different form of breast cancer than woman of European ancestry. To support, go to www.BCRFCure.org.

National Ovarian Cancer Coalition

With growing nationwide chapters spearheaded by local volunteers that understand the needs of their communities, the NOCC provides support and encouragement in a real and immediate way. On the national level, the NOCC empowers women and the people who love them with the awareness they need to get educated about ovarian cancer with initiatives like T.E.A.L (Take Early Action and Live) and Break the Silence, in conjunction with Dr. Oz. To support, go to www.Ovarian.org.

Postpartum Support International

One in eight women suffer from postpartum depression—and most of those women do it in silence. Even the most otherwise empowered and together women buckle under the weight of this confounding disorder. PSI serves to give women essential information about perinatal mood and anxiety disorder, aka postpartum depression, including risk factors, symptoms and treatments, and connects them to the best local resources available so they get on the road to recovery. To support, go to www.Postpartum.net.

HealthyWomen

No, we didn’t just pick it because we like the name! This women’s health nonprofit is a one-stop shop for the latest scoop on everything from birth control to mental health to digestive disorders to cancer to sexual health. With a mission of educating, informing and empowering women to make the smartest health choices, HealthyWomen is a trusted go-to for objective, expert, evidence-based need-to-know-now info. To support, go to www.HealthyWomen.org.

In honor of National Breastfeeding Month and World Breastfeeding Week, we asked Best for Babes, a nonprofit that’s giving breastfeeding a makeover by empowering women with the education, acceptance and support they need to achieve their own personal breastfeeding goals, for the breast, eh, uh, we mean best way we can help our sisters with babes in arms.

“We’ve got to beat what we call the Booby Traps that keep moms who want to breastfeed from achieving their personal breastfeeding goals. We cheer all moms on without pressure, judgment or guilt, whether they want to breastfeed for two weeks, two months, two years or not at all. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 86 percent of expecting moms say they want to breastfeed, 74 percent try to breastfeed, and most are not able to breastfeed exclusively for three weeks, let alone the minimum six months recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics—only 14 percent make it that far, and it’s not their fault! Women are being pressured to breastfeed but are set up to fail. Moms’ best intentions are being undermined by poor hospital practices, lack of maternity leave policies, social disapproval and a myriad of other Booby Traps. All this at a time when obesity, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, allergies and breast cancer rates are soaring; the risk for all these diseases is lowered by mostly or exclusively breastfeeding,” says Best for Babes Co-Founder Bettina Forbes. Forbes, a certified lactation consultant with a background in social entrepreneurship, launched the organization in 2007 with Danielle Rigg, a former lawyer and current certified lactation consultant.

So, if you’re ready to beat those Booby Traps, take control of your own personal breastfeeding goals and help your fellow moms do the same, now is the perfect time to speak up!

The theme of this year’s World Breastfeeding Week is communication and in celebration of its message, here are Forbes’ five ways you can do more than give it lip service.

1.  Give a nursing mom a thumbs up.  A lot of moms are nervous about breastfeeding in public, so a warm smile or  a quick “great job” as you pass by can do wonders for another mother’s confidence and self-esteem.

2.  Ask questions. Next time a friend or acquaintance tells you she is expecting, don’t launch into a thesis about breastfeeding’s benefits. Ask her “What have you heard about breastfeeding?” Only by listening FIRST can we be truly helpful and know better which information, if any, would best suit your friend . . . and you may save yourself from having egg on your face too.  We have heard of women who rattle off scientific facts of milk production to a double mastectomy survivor, when they should have been talking about donor milk and the universal gift of skin to skin.

3.  Share your own personal experience.  Better than facts? Telling women that you were nervous about breastfeeding, but that once you got through the learning curve, it was a great experience.  Or that you didn’t want to breastfeed, but were so glad that you did. Or that the best thing you did was take a really good breastfeeding class and interview an IBCLC.

4.  Thank your breastfeeding-supportive health professional.  Write a note to the night nurse who helped you latch and re-latch until it was comfortable, or the pediatrician who told you to see an IBCLC, and copy the hospital or the state chapter for the American Academy of Pediatrics.  One of the worst Booby Traps is a well-meaning but misinformed health professional . . .  all the more reason to recognize those that do it right!

5.  Tell off a judgmental busybody.  If there’s one thing we have zero tolerance for, it’s the naysayers and nosybodies that make other moms feel bad, whether they are breastfeeding  or bottle-feeding.  Whether they are telling a nursing mom to move to the bathroom (gross!) or telling a formula-feeding mom that she is poisoning her child (psycho!) let the ranter know that building a mother’s confidence is much more effective than tearing her down.  And say it sweetly, with a smile!

For more from Best for Babes, go to www.BestforBabes.org.

Healthy Woman.

We mean it.

We make your health and wellness our top priority, from adolescence to menopause and way beyond.

We are your partner in health and we make it our mission to fulfill the emotional, physical and physiological needs of all women through the provision of personal, individualized healthcare services.

Simply put: We’ve got your back, sister!

Take Danielle Hamarich for example. She delivered her two children with Healthy Woman then during a subsequent annual gynecologic exam, Dr. Rebecca Cipriano felt her thyroid was enlarged. This enlargement was thyroid cancer.

Healthy Woman partner Dr. Susan Pacana, who also cared for Danielle during her pregnancy and beyond, and Danielle began sharing running tips last year after the ever-brave Danielle had just completed her first half-marathon to raise money for thyroid cancer via the THANC Foundation and Dr. Susan was, coincidentally, gearing up for a different half-marathon.

Says Dr. Susan, “Danielle recently asked me to run with her team for this race and I couldn’t be more excited. I am amazed at Danielle’s enthusiasm for running even after her diagnosis, while working and raising a family.  Running a half marathon for the THANC Foundation is easy compared to what patients with these cancer face.”

So, you know we walk our talk and now you know we run it too.

To support Dr. Susan’s run on Sunday, May 1 and the THANC Foundation in the fight against thyroid, head and neck cancers, go to www.thancfoundation.org.

She walks hard for the money! (Yes, that song will be in your head for the rest of the day and you are welcome.)

On March 27, the Healthy Woman team walked their talk at the 2nd Annual Paulette Steps Toward Cancer Wellness 5K/1 Mile Fitness Walk.

Says Healthy Woman Executive Director Stephanie Serrentino, “The staff of Healthy Woman was there to take part in a 5k Run/Fitness Walk to help Centra State raise money for colon cancer. Everyone took time out from their busy schedule to be part of this event. It turned out to be a good day, knowing that everyone was there for a good cause.”

A good cause indeed! Paulette Stallone, a Manalapan mom, marathon runner and fitness instructor who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer two years ago at the age of 44, partnered with Centra State Hospital in Freehold on the second event of its kind that, last year, raised more than $26,000. With a palpable passion for healthy living, Paulette is on a  mission to help others beat cancer through education, prevention, early detection and a continued focus on wellness following a cancer diagnosis.

This mission is very much step with the modus operandi of Healthy Woman, a Freehold- and Colts-Neck-based Ob/Gyn practice that makes its patients’ health and well-being its top priority, from pap smear to pregnancy to menopause.

Launching in May: Healthy Woman’s Charity of the Month program.

Step by step, Healthy Woman is making a difference!