Greater Green Bay YMCA Selected to Participate in LIVESTRONG® Community Impact Project

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Green Bay, WI (PRWEB) March 15, 2012

The Greater Green Bay YMCA has been selected to participate in the LIVESTRONG® Community Impact Project, an online voting campaign that is designed to bring proven cancer support programs to communities across the United States.

LIVESTRONG’s Community Impact Project is a process by which successful
evidence-based programs are replicated in new communities across the country. Select organizations compete in an online voting campaign that allows the general public to show their support for bringing a program to their community.

“We are thrilled and honored to be selected as a candidate for the Community Impact Project,” said Heidi Strand, East Side Y Center Executive. “We share LIVESTRONG’s passion for inspiring and empowering people affected by cancer and look forward to working together to make a difference in the lives of cancer survivors and their families.”

Finalists will also receive tools and resources from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the organization established in 1997 by the cancer survivor and champion cyclist to serve people living with cancer and empower communities to take action against the world’s leading cause of death. The foundation is now known publicly by its powerful brand – LIVESTRONG – and is a leader in the global movement on behalf of 28 million people around the world living with cancer today.

The 2012 Community Impact Project will offer nearly $1.4 million in implementation awards to 90 finalists. This represents the largest number of financial awards LIVESTRONG has granted in a single year in the history of the foundation. LIVESTRONG is committed to supporting community organizations in their efforts to help cancer survivors face the challenges and changes that come with cancer and has invested more than $70 million in community-centered organizations.

Greater Green Bay YMCA is among hundreds of organizations in the running for the award. If selected, the Green Bay Y will use the awarded funds to train staff and implement the 12-week LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program so that cancer survivors can have access to personalized and specialized coaching to re-build strength, begin exercising and receive the emotional support necessary to feel empowered to positively live their ‘new normal’ life.

Hundreds of qualified hospitals, cancer centers, universities and nonprofits from across the United States applied to be part of four different programs:

•     LIVESTRONG® at the YMCA: LIVESTRONG at the YMCA is a research-based program that offers people affected by cancer a safe, supportive environment to participate in physical and social activities focused on strengthening the whole person. Participants work with Y staff trained in supportive cancer care to achieve their goals such as building muscle mass and strength; increasing flexibility and endurance; and improving confidence and self-esteem.
•     The Creative Center – Hospital Artist-in-Residence Program: Since its inception in 1994, The Creative Center has been dedicated to bringing the arts to people with cancer and chronic illness through all stages of life as a way to help them discover their own creative resources while meeting the challenges of diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. The Artist-in-Residence program helps cancer survivors deal with the stresses of treatment through artistic expression. The program will work bedside and in small group settings with men, women and children – in oncology units, bone marrow transplant units, intensive care/respiratory units, hospice and palliative care programs.
•     Advanced Certification for Palliative Care: The Joint Commission’s Advanced Certification for Palliative Care is designed to set standards and acknowledge hospitals providing state-of-the-art palliative care services that relieve symptoms and stress of serious illness and improve quality of life for patients. The Center to Advance Palliative Care will provide tools and training to 20 hospitals and cancer centers across the country to assist in their efforts to qualify for the Certification.
•     Pillars4Life: Pillars4Life is a patient/caregiver support program that has been proven to enhance quality of life for cancer patients and allows hospitals and their social workers to more efficiently triage and attend to the psychosocial needs of a much greater number of patients.

Voting for the Community Impact Project begins on Wed., Mar. 7 at 10am CST. Applicants with the top votes per region will receive a financial award of support to replicate and implement a sustainable program dedicated to supporting families fighting cancer.

Voting ends on March 23, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. CST. To vote, visit http://vote.livestrong.org/vote2012/applicants/194-greater-green-bay-ymca-inc/. For more information about Greater Green Bay YMCA, visit http://www.GreenBayYMCA.org.

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