As part of Mayor Dave Fleisher’s ongoing wellness campaign, the township hosted an event focused on women’s health on May 13 at Camden County College.
The EmpowerHer Women’s Wellness Night emphasized health issues commonly associated with women. It was the first of its kind in Cherry Hill and is part of the wellness campaign the mayor relaunched when he took office last year.
Upon entering the college’s William G. Rohrer Center, guests were met with tables that represented the township; Jefferson Health; and the police department’s domestic violence response team, among others.
Valerie Nerenberg is the vice president of operations and chief nursing officer for Jefferson Health.
“We have our partnership with the mayor’s office as their premier sponsor for their wellness initiatives this year,” she noted of Wellness Night. “So there’s multiple speakers here from Jefferson … a registered dietician, a physician.”
A plastic bin was placed near the Rohrer center’s entrance to collect donations of period poverty products.
“We’ve been working on pulling this together for the last few months with Jefferson,” explained mayoral aide Celeste Bogda of the event.
Wellness Night drew an estimated 50 to 75 people over two hours. Among its other features was a presentation by police regarding MAPPS – Multi-Agency Police Peer Support – a program in which Cherry Hill officers and other law-enforement agencies help people through traumatic events and issues in daily life.
Two officers discussed stress reactions to trauma and connected them with women’s mental and physical health. The police domestic violence response team provided resources for reporting and getting in touch with local shelters, and explained how it meets victims at hospitals and speaks with them by phone in the immediate aftermath of domestic abuse.
Another fair presentation dealt with nutrition and supplements for women. Jefferson’s Sarah Mercier, RDN, offered women practical advice on eating well at all ages.
“So instead of whole milk, consider maybe 2% milk,” she advised. “You don’t get to do skim, but anywhere that we can kind of cut back on those saturated fats, it can be very helpful.”
Mercier also stressed the importance of getting enough water and incorporating fiber and protein into all meals and snacks, using supplements in lieu of meals, getting enough daily calories and avoiding long periods without eating.
“I think everyone in this room has heard this at one point or another, only eat 1,200 calories,” she pointed out. “It is not enough – you’re starving yourself.”
Once the presentations at the event had wrapped up, health professionals were available for rounds of “speed dating,” where residents could discuss with them specific concerns and get advice on addressing them.
Dori Cowan went to Wellness Night with a friend.
“I thought it was very beneficial for the women in the community,” she observed, “to have different options for speakers and different presentations. So I thought it was good.”
