Please be advised the May 16 Healthy Start Coalition Finance Committee and Board of Directors meetings have been CANCELLED.

In celebration of National Women’s Health Week, the Magnolia Project and the Azalea Project are hosting events to encourage women in the community to start thinking about their health.

The Magnolia Project will be giving free depression and stress screenings Thursday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. followed by an informational discussion about the Affordable Care Act at noon. The Project will also hold a community Health Walk Friday May 17 at 9 a.m. and a nutrition and beauty information session at 11 a.m. Both events will take place at the Magnolia Project at 5300 N. Pearl St.

The Azalea Project is hosting a free Health & Wellness Day Friday, May 17 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the True Holiness Church at 4022 Spring Grove Rd. Attendees will receive information about nutrition, health, fitness, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV awareness. There will also be door prizes and auction items. Lunch will be provided.

Dig Into Reading, a Jacksonville Public Library summer reading program, encourages not just children to read over summer, but also for parents to read to their infants as well.

The program, set to run from June 11 to August 2  is free and open to newborns and children up to 12 years of age. Children who read 10 books over the course of the two summer months will receive a free book at the end of the program.

All library branch locations will be participating in Dig Into Reading. Registration for the program will be available on the Jacksonville Public Library website June 1. The event schedule for the program will be posted online May 15.

The Florida Association for Infant Mental Health’s 12th Annual Conference June 12 in Tampa will highlight the topic, Trauma & Toxic Stress. Following the FAIMH conference is the 2013 Early Childhood Conference June 13-14, also in Tampa.

The FAIMH conference will feature two keynote speakers:

• Neil W. Boris, M.D.,  a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Central Florida and the Chief of Behavioral Health at Nemours Hospital will cover the topic, “Breaking the Cycle: Trauma, Attachment and Intervention.”
• Patricia M. Crittenden, M.Ed, Ph.D. the author of Attachment and Family Systems Therapy will give her speech titled, “Smiles and Kisses: Repairing Mother-Infant Breaches.”

There will also be break-out sessions during the afternoon of the FAIMH conference that will address Early Steps & Infant Mental Health Partnerships, Child Welfare & “Baby Court Programs”, Home Visiting Programs and Early Learning Coalitions & Infant Mental Health Partnerships.

To register for the FAIMH conference visit the FAIMH website here.

The 2013 Early Childhood Conference’s featured speakers will be authors Robin Karr-Morse (Ghosts in the Nursery: The Roots of Violence, ScaredSick: The Role of Childhood Trauma in Adult Disease) and Myra McPherson (Bare Bones of Discipline).

The conference’s workshop themes are Early Care & Education, Maternal & Child Health, Health & Nutrition, Infant Mental Health and Evidence-based Practice.

To register for the 2013 Early Childhood Conference visit the Early Childhood Council of Hillsborough County, Inc. website.

To celebrate National Women’s Health Week May 12-18, the Clay County Health Department will be hosting a Women’s Health Fair May 16.

There will be free health screenings for women of all ages from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fair will take place at the Bear Run Clinic in Orange Park at 3229 Bear Run Blvd.

The Women’s Health Fair is a great opportunity to show your love by putting your health first. Show Your Love is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national preconception health campaign aimed at encouraging women to engage in healthy behaviors now, before they might become pregnant.