<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">August 24, 2011</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">; FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">CONTACT:<span
style=""> </span>Kathie Norwood, Executive Director</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align:
center; text-indent: -0.25in;" align="center"><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 4pt;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align:
center; text-indent: -0.25in;" align="center"><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Broadway;">“United Way of
Eastern Maine supports </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align:
center; text-indent: -0.25in;" align="center"><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Broadway;">RealCare®
parenting in Hancock County”</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The Downeast
Children’s Council, a program of Downeast Health Services Inc.,
is pleased to announce continued financial support from the
United Way of Eastern Maine to provide the RealCare® parenting
program to students in Hancock County schools.<span style=""> </span>The
Downeast Children’s Council RealCare® parenting program provides
middle school and high school students throughout Hancock County
with an opportunity to learn how to appropriately care for an
infant in order to prevent injury and neglect.<span style=""> </span>Since
2001, over 2000 students from 23 Hancock County community
schools have participated in this 48-hour simulated parenting
experience using computerized life-like infants.<span style="">
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">The purpose of the
Real Care® parenting program is to give students the knowledge
they need to make informed decisions about parenting.<span
style=""> </span>Using an <i style="">evidence-informed</i>
curriculum, the program explores the emotional, financial and
social consequences of parenting and is intended to help teens
understand three important facts:<span style=""> </span>1)
Infants require a great deal of time and attention, 2) Infants’
demands are unpredictable, but must be met promptly; and 3)
parenting responsibilities impact one’s lifestyle profoundly.<span
style=""> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">Why do we partner
primarily with 8<sup>th</sup> grade classes?<span style=""> </span>Eighth
grade is the last intact class of boys and girls that have the
opportunity to learn together about empathy and understand how
it relates to caring for children.<span style=""> </span>This
experience teaches adolescents about the damaging effects of
child abuse, and how to appropriate care for an infant in order
to prevent injury and neglect.<span style=""> </span>These
skills are important to provide teens that care for younger
siblings, become babysitters, or young parents, with the correct
response to a crying baby.<span style=""> </span></span></p>
<br>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">Prior to the 48-hour
parenting simulation, teachers instruct the students in how to
safely hold, feed, burp, bathe, and change an infant.<span
style=""> </span>Students are taught the basics of infant
physical and mental development, how to provide a safe
environment for an infant and how to properly install an infant
car seat.<span style=""> </span>Students may also have the
opportunity to experience the “Empathy Belly”™, a unique
resource that simulates pregnancy through the use of a rib belt
and the strategic positioning of various weighted components.<span
style=""> </span>The computerized infant provides detailed
information about the care that Baby receives.<span style=""> </span>At
the completion of each parenting experience, the school
coordinator downloads the data from each computerized infant and
notes the outcomes for each student.<span style=""> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif"; color: blue;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">To enhance the
parenting simulation curriculum, we also provide demonstration
babies that show the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and drug
abuse during pregnancy.<span style=""> </span>The stark
contrast between a normal baby and drug-affected baby has an
immediate, visual high impact on participants; and the delayed
response to care requires students to exercise extreme patience.<span
style=""> </span>Our new computerized “Shaken Baby Syndrome”
demonstration infant is designed with a transparent head that
clearly defines the traumatic brain injuries caused by abusive
head trauma.<span style=""> </span>When the simulator is
shaken, affected sections of the brain light up to illustrate
where brain damage has occurred.<span style=""> </span>Combined
with a curriculum that helps establish a plan for coping with an
inconsolable baby, we are learning that this experience remains
with participants for a long time.<span style=""> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">As the only
county-wide program dedicated to keeping children safe, the
Children’s Council is uniquely situated to provide a consistent
program, using specialized materials that are beyond the
capacity of most schools to invest their limited funding.<span
style=""> </span>We are in a position to monitor the program
use by our many school partners, implement recommendations for
improvement, and share our findings with all participating
schools.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">Small rural schools
do not have the resources to purchase these materials for their
own use, and are challenged to contribute any funding for this
program.<span style=""> </span>As Hancock County schools
experience declining enrollments and shrinking school budgets,
we have saved local schools over $200,000 by purchasing these
materials to be shared by all communities, rather than having
each school purchase their own materials, a cost-saving effort
appreciated by municipal leaders annually.<span style=""> </span>The
Children’s Council offers this program to all Hancock County
middle schools and high schools.<span style=""> </span>Reservations
for this program are on a first-come, first-reserved basis by
calling Jamie Brooks at 667-5304 ext. 261 beginning September 1<sup>st</sup>,
2011.<span style=""> </span>Please visit our website at <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.downeasthealth.org"><span
style="">www.downeasthealth.org</span></a> or email <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:children@downeasthealth.org"><span style="">children@downeasthealth.org</span></a><span
style="color: black;"> </span>to learn about RealCare™
parenting, other parenting workshops and classes, support
groups, and family resources available in Hancock County.<span
style=""> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";">The United Way of
Eastern Maine works with local community partners for meaningful
and lasting change that improves the lives of people in our
region.<span style=""> </span>For additional information,
contact United Way of Eastern Maine at 207-941-2800 or visit
their website at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.unitedwayem.org"><span style="font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif";">www.unitedwayem.org</span></a>.<span
style=""> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></p>
</body>
</html>