(New Brunswick, NJ) - With the support of a generous donation from RWJBarnabas Health Board Chairman and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) Board of Directors Chair Jack Morris, RWJUH’s Community Health Promotions Program launched Prom Dresses with a Purpose to support teens in New Brunswick and its surrounding communities during this prom season.
Through the initiative, new complimentary prom dresses were made available to area high school students. Each dress also came with valuable information about healthy relationships and teen dating violence prevention.
Once students select and try on their dresses, a two-sided card is attached to the tag on the front of each dress. The tag displays the relationship bill of rights* and information about healthy relationships**.
“We are incredibly thankful and appreciative of Mr. Morris’ generous donation to benefit children in the communities we serve,” explains Mariam Merced, Director of Community Health Promotions at RWJUH. “This donation presented us with a tremendous opportunity to build on the education and outreach we have conducted through our Domestic Violence Prevention Program to reach even more students in our communities about this important topic.”
RWJUH has multiple programs focusing on domestic violence prevention and healthy relationships targeted at both adults and local youths. For example, RWJUH offers New Brunswick students the AMARD&V Domestic Violence Prevention Expansion Program throughout the academic year. The program encourages healthy relationships among local youths by focusing on themes such as building hope, resilience and self-esteem. The AMARD&V Extension Program is made possible through a generous $75,000 grant from HopeLine from Verizon. HopeLine from Verizon connects survivors of domestic violence to vital resources, funds organizations nationwide and protects the environment. Funding from HopeLine from Verizon has allowed RWJUH to expand its summer program throughout the school year by identifying a group community teenagers to serve as program ambassadors of domestic violence prevention in their communities. The ambassadors produce art work, skits and other performances on bystander intervention, which they then perform at youth centers, faith-based organizations, festivals and other community events.
In addition, RWJUH’s Domestic Violence Education and Prevention Program has partnered with the AVON foundation and local resources to decrease the amount of stigma related to domestic and sexual violence in the Latino community by establishing the No Mas Violencia: Addressing Domestic & Sexual Violence in the Latino Community Program. RWJUH developed a three-tier strategy to increase awareness of intimate violence and to change the attitudes toward talking about such a personal issue.
To learn more about RWJUH, please visit www.rwjbh.org/newbrunswick. For a referral to a physician affiliated with RWJUH, please call 1-888-MD-RWJUH. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rwjuh and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RWJUH.
*Relationship Bill of Rights
Source: http://www.loveisrespect.org
You have rights in your relationship. Everyone does, and those rights can help you set boundaries that should be respected by both partners in a healthy relationship.
You have the right to privacy, both online and off. You have the right to feel safe and respected. You have the right to decide who you want to date or not date.
You have the right to say no at any time (to sex, to drugs or alcohol, to a relationship), even if you’ve said yes before.
You have the right to hang out with your friends and family and do things you enjoy, without your partner getting jealous or controlling.
You have the right to end a relationship that isn’t right or healthy for you. You have the right to live free from violence and abuse.
**Healthy Relationships
(source: http://www.loveisrespect.org )
A healthy relationship means that both you and your partner are: A healthy relationship means that both you and your partner are:
Communicating: You talk openly about problems, listen to each other and respect each other’s opinions.
Respectful: You value each other as you are. You respect each other’s emotional, digital and sexual boundaries.
Trusting: You believe what your partner has to say. You do not feel the need to “prove” each other’s trustworthiness.
Honest: You are honest with each other, but can still keep some things private.
Equal: You make decisions together and hold each other to the same standards.
Enjoying personal time: You both can enjoy spending time apart, alone or with others. You respect each other’s need for time apart.
About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), an RWJBarnabas Health Facility, is a 600-bed academic medical center that serves as the principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the flagship Cancer Hospital of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, stroke care, neuroscience, orthopedics, bariatric surgery and women’s and children’s care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.bmsch.org). A Level 1 Trauma Center and the first designated Pediatric Trauma Center in the state, RWJUH’s New Brunswick campus serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.
RWJUH has been ranked among the best hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report seven times and has been selected by the publication as a high performing hospital in numerous specialties. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital has been ranked among the best hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report five times. In addition, RWJUH was named among the best places to work in health care by Modern Healthcare magazine and received the Equity Care of Award as Top Hospital for Healthcare Diversity and Inclusion from the American Hospital Association. RWJUH Brunswick has earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety, including the prestigious Magnet® Award for Nursing Excellence and “Most Wired” designation by Hospitals and Health Networks Magazine. The American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer has rated RWJUH among the nation’s best comprehensive cancer centers.
Contact:
Peter Haigney
RWJUH Public Relations
(732) 937-8521