Healthy Respect Cited for Excellence at Yonkers Medical Symposium

Mayor of New York’s Fourth Largest City Praises Program

Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone commended the Healthy Respect program for bringing a positive message into Yonkers public schools about the risks of teen sexual activity and the benefits of abstinence until marriage.

“It was absolutely essential for me to be here tonight,” Mayor Amicone said. “I’m with [Healthy Respect] every step of the way, to make sure that the boys and girls of this city know that abstinence is a real alternative, the best alternative.”

The Mayor offered his welcoming remarks at Healthy Respect’s 2nd Annual Medical Symposium on Sexual Health held at the Roosevelt Ballroom in downtown Yonkers.

In his introductory remarks, Mr. Rocco Grassi, Principal of Gorton High School in Yonkers, highlighted the ability of Healthy Respect to “aid in our efforts to achieve the lofty goal” of educating the whole student for the challenges he or she will face in life.

The Healthy Respect curriculum and classroom instructors, Mr. Grassi said, “impart knowledge and build character” and “inspire our students, giving them the self-respect to be different” and develop “moral, spiritual and social courage.”

Healthy Respect, Mr. Grassi concluded, “is having a dramatic impact on our students at Gorton High School.”

The event’s keynote speaker, Dr. Marilou Corpuz, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx, underlined the importance of school-based abstinence education, reporting that people under the age of 25 account for 50 percent of all new Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). During her presentation of methods of transmission, symptoms and treatment of STI’s, Dr. Corpuz stressed that some infections are incurable and remain with a patient forever. She emphasized that even curable infections may result in permanent physical damage and sterility and infertility.

Meetings in Washington

The long-scheduled symposium came a day after Healthy Respect’s Chief Executive Officer, John P. Margand, Esq., met with national lawmakers in Washington, D.C., during “Abstinence Day on the Hill.”

Mr. Margand met with Congresswoman Nita Lowey who represents Yonkers in New York’s 18th Congressional District. Mr. Margand then spoke at length with key members of her staff. He also met with the staff of Congressman Vito Fossella of Staten Island about Healthy Respect’s work in the New York City public schools.

“We spoke about the broad-based community support that we have for our program and how we build on a results-oriented approach to bring the message of abstinence to students who might not otherwise hear the message,” Mr. Margand said.