Stargazers Abuzz About Solstice Lunar Eclipse

Stargazers Abuzz About Solstice Lunar Eclipse:

Best viewing at 3:17 a.m. Tuesday according to NASA

(Posted on Fairfield.Patch.com 12/20)

By Mike Lauterborn

ã 2010. All Rights Reserved.

12/20/10

Fairfield, CT – In some parts, they call it a “two-fer”, as you get two for the price of one. During the overnight span of Monday into Tuesday, North Americans will get a very special two-fer: a lunar eclipse paired with the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

In the wee morning hours between 2:41 and 3:53 a.m., the full moon will move into the earth’s shadow. The fact that the eclipse happens on the winter solstice is a true rarity. Though there’s debate about the date, experts generally agree that it last happened in 1638 – one year before the official incorporation of the town of Fairfield.

The Rolnick Observatory at 182 Bayberry Lane in Westport will bear witness to the event, noted Dan Wright, a member of the Board of Directors for the Westport Astronomical Society. The 35-year-old facility will be open specially from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. for any stargazing fans to visit and brave what Wright predicted would be “breezy and very cold” middle-of-the-night conditions. He advised, “Dress warm… really warm… and if you have binoculars, bring them. Depending on demand, we’ll have several telescopes set up, but plan on being in the elements.”

Wright said skies will be clear for those wanting to watch what he termed “the clockwork of the cosmos.” The totality of the eclipse will be 72 minutes.

There’s much speculation and interest in what color the Moon will turn. Some say it will be dim and copper-colored. Others, like Wright, guess it may be blood red. Of course, it may be entirely impossible to see. Wright said, “It really depends on the amount of aerosols in our atmosphere. The more dust, the redder the moon.”

This is because the moon will only be illuminated by light passing through the earth’s atmosphere.

If you miss this eclipse, said Wright, “The next lunar eclipse is just three years away here in North America. And you won’t have to wait another 372 years to see another eclipse on a solstice as there’s one predicted for December 21, 2094.” For his money though, he was feeling a lot more confident about catching this current eclipse.

Despite the chilly temps, a few hardy locals plan to take in the heavenly show. Christine Mangone of Black Rock, recognizing that she won’t be alive for the next solstice lunar eclipse, said, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Since I am an early bird, I am going to try to get up at 4 a.m., grab a big mug of coffee and go out to St. Mary’s to see it. I was out this morning at 6 a.m. and the Moon was incredible.”

The eclipse, according to a NASA website, actually begins at 1:33 a.m. At that time, Earth’s shadow will show as a dark-red “bite” at the edge of the Moon. It will take about an hour for the bite to expand and swallow the entire Moon. The site advised that if you’re just planning on taking a quick peek, to do so at 3:17 a.m. “when the Moon will be in the deepest shadow, displaying the most fantastic shades of coppery red.”

Overnight temps, according to weatherunderground.com, were predicted to be in the low 20s, with a real-feel temp in the teens due to wind chill.

Fairfielder Chris Rieck posted an eclipse-related status update on his Facebook page: “Get the cocktails ready!! 2:41 a.m. tonight!” after noting NPR.org’s announcement that the “Moon will turn into a reddish ball.” As an accompaniment to his libations, he planned to “crank Pink Floyd loud enough to wake the neighbors up.”

One thousand miles south, fellow Facebooker Grant Robin in Miami, FL, had also taken note of the event and planned to catch live footage being captured by WPBT-TV in collaboration with the Miami Science Museum. NASA is hosting a similar live feed of the eclipse, as well as a live chat. 

Trailers Enhance Ability of Towns to Meet Emergency Needs

Trailers Enhance Ability of Towns to Meet Emergency Needs:

Mass Care trailers deployed from Fairfield’s Regional Fire School

(Posted to Fairfield.Patch.com 12/20)

By Mike Lauterborn

© 2010. All Rights Reserved.

12/20/10

Fairfield, CT – Like the wagon trains of old were circled up to ward off attackers, the new trailers were lined up and ready to play their part in helping southwestern Connecticut communities weather emergencies.

Late morning Monday Dec. 20, federal, state and town leaders and officials gathered in a meeting room at the Fairfield Regional Fire School at 205 One Rod Highway for the official hand-off of 14 Mass Care cargo trailers. The trailers were purchased with U.S. Department of Homeland Security funds provided through the CT Department of Emergency Management / Homeland Security (DEMHS) for the benefit of 14 southwestern Connecticut towns. Each unit costs approximately $9,000 and contains over 200 blankets, 110 standard cots, 12 supportive care cots and shelter management kits. The trailers will be used by the towns to help with sheltering operations in an emergency.

The purchase was coordinated through the DEMHS Region 1 Emergency Planning Team and paid for using Homeland Security Grant funds. The planning team includes representatives from Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Stratford, New Canaan, Wilton, Weston, Easton, Monroe and Trumbull.

Each of the towns was to pick up its respective trailer throughout the afternoon. As the press conference convened, Bridgeport Fire Dept. Captain Ed McCann was already hitching his trailer up to the sport utility vehicle in which he had arrived. He was glad to receive the trailer, noting, “This really enhances our ability to respond to emergencies like hurricanes and evacuations.”

Fairfield’s Assistant Fire Chief Christopher Tracy said Fairfield was just serving as the host site and added that it was appropriate given the town’s involvement in the 1993 Nor’easter. “This area was half underwater and trailers like these would have been critical in our response. We had to connect to hydrants that were under salt water. What we’re looking at now is the ability to house locals that had to be evacuated.”

Fairfield Fire Chief Felner recalled the ’93 storm. “I went off duty at 8, was called back at 9 and had to evacuation at the beach. The trailers would have allowed us to be better prepared with extra equipment. Now that the surrounding towns will all have the same equipment, we can work together and help each other as needed.”

The Red Cross is a partner with the towns in providing sheltering services, and a small team from Bridgeport, led by Sr. Director for Emergency Services Stephen Wood, was on hand. Woods is also the co-chair of the DEMHS Region 1 Emergency Support Function Six Mass Care Committee. Its role is specific to mass feeding and sheltering in the event of an emergency.

“In Region 1, the Red Cross has six pre-existing trailers, so these new trailers will double our capacity and abilities in the region,” said Wood.

Michelle DeLuca, Deputy Emergency Management Director for Norwalk and co-chair of the Mass Care Planning Group was glad to see the trailers come to fruition. “This has been a work in progress for the last couple of years. The trailers are assets to help with sheltering and each town can respond and help each other. Hopefully we won’t need them!” she said.

Fairfield First Selectman Ken Flatto thanked state officials for the assist. “It’s so important to get the help and support and we’re thrilled that Congressman Himes could join us. He has been instrumental in helping first responders in this region.”

Himes, who represents the 4^th District, was pleased to see government working together in this effort and said, “This is a capability we need, for hurricanes, sewer main breaks, coastal flooding and, heaven forbid, terrorist incidents. We’ll be able to keep our colleagues comfortable and safe in emergencies.”

DEMHS Commissioner Peter Boynton remarked on the work of his state agency and the towns collaborating to make this possible. “For every one state dollar, we bring in eight Federal dollars from among 20 Federal grants. In 2005, we only had three Federal grants. And now that we have towns working together as regions, the Feds are more apt to help fund initiatives. They were disinterested in helping individual towns.”

Boynton said his department seeks to establish resiliency in emergency situations and that there are three basic legs to that – the ability to withstand, recover and adapt. He said, “We don’t want to repeat a cycle without the ability to withstand it. With these trailers, we are better able to withstand and recover.”

Fairfield Professor Introduces Math Tool to Help Streamline Cancer Research

Fairfield Professor Introduces Math Tool to Help Streamline Cancer Research

(Posted to Fairfield Citizen newspaper’s website w/o 12/20)

By Mike Lauterborn

© 2010. All Rights Reserved.

12/14/10

Fairfield, CT – A Moscow-born math professor with a knack for numbers has helped develop an algebraic tool that will help take the guesswork out of scientific experimentation and refine genetic research processes – a plus in the ongoing battle with cancer.

Newtown resident Vera Cherepinsky, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Fairfield University, met with the Citizen News recently on the school’s campus to shed light on her inspiration and how the tool can help researchers.

“I was a family outlier,” said Cherepinsky, an emigrant to the U.S. from Russia in 1991. “My whole family was computer science oriented. I always liked math puzzles, and studying patterns. Math is really a study of patterns and how we organize them.”

Cherepinsky graduated from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn in 1998 and from Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University in 2003. While she was a graduate student, she and her doctoral advisor, Dr. Bud Mishra, were hired to do consulting work by a bio-tech company called BioArray Solutions in Warren, NJ. The company had detected some results in the lab that they couldn’t explain.

Cherepinsky and Mishra focused on the problem together with BioArray researchers. Respectively, they brought to the table multi-disciplinary backgrounds including math, computer science, biology and physics.

As the professor explained, “The issue was that when two experiments were performed at the same time (in parallel), the results from each differed from the results when the experiments were done individually.”

The team labeled this anomaly “Competitive Hybridization” or the “Competition Effect” for short, and developed a mathematical model to explain the effect. It was validated using experimental data and can now be applied to predict this kind of interaction and used to design better experiments in many areas of biology, including cancer research.

“Some of the work that I did on this problem became a chapter of my doctoral dissertation,” said Cherepinsky. “Here at the university, I revisited it and brought it into publishable form.”

Why is this significant in a larger world view? “If you’re a cancer researcher interested in a particular gene, you can apply this tool to choose how you search for that gene,” she said. “A gene has a long sequence, measured in hundreds to thousands of DNA bases, and there are many possible short “snippets” you could use to search for it. Which of them should be used is a question in experiment design, which our model can help answer.”

The benefits overall are more efficient experimentation and more reliable answers. In a global view, this could result in tremendous research cost savings as it helps by “nipping in the bud” potential false positive and false negative errors in advance by predicting them in simulation.

The work of Cherepinsky and her colleagues, BioArray’s Ghazala Hashmi and NYU’s Mishra, has just been published in the scientific journal Physical Review E and, thus far, the reaction has been very positive. The journal’s parent organization, the American Physical Society, also included the paper in a November compilation of significant research developments in biological physics.

“Increasingly, problems in many areas dealing with the human genome require the collaboration of mathematicians and scientists from many related disciplines to adequately address biological dilemmas,” said Cherepinsky. It’s an exciting time with rapid discoveries that could ultimately help eradicate disease and major medical conditions that plague our world.

Cherepinsky reflected, “There’s a song by folk rock singer Catie Curtis that has a line that I take to heart. ‘If I can’t change the world, I’ll change the world within my reach,’ and I think that the work we’ve done here has addressed one piece of a larger puzzle.”

Easton Banjo Society Strums Up Holiday Fun

Easton Banjo Society 
Strums Up Holiday Fun:

Community Theater sing-along benefits Filmscool.org

(Posted to 

Fairfield.Patch.com 12/19)

By Mike Lauterborn

© 2010. All Rights Reserved.

12/19/10

Fairfield, CT – Children danced in the aisles, parents clapped in time and old-timers sang along as the banjos plucked out holiday beats. It was old-fashioned fun and a good time for all.

The site was the Community Theater at 1424 Post Road and the entertainers were fourteen members of the Easton Banjo Society who had gathered together Sunday afternoon Dec. 19 to perform “A Banjo Christmas and Sing-Along” to benefit filmscool.org.

The band was formed in 1957 by several Easton men and has played town events for the past 53 years. They are a regular highlight of Fairfield’s Memorial Day parade, though their greatest moment was playing on the White House lawn on July 4, 1981 for then-President Ronald Reagan. The group also supported the Statue of Liberty restoration ceremonies.

Instruments include tenor, plectrum, 5-string, mandolin and guitar-style banjos, though the band is often backed by ragtime-style piano, sousaphone, drums and washboard as well. Their repertoire includes American songs drawn mainly from the mid-19^th century up to the early 1930’s. This includes such folk classics as “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “My Gal Sal.”

The performance attracted an audience of about 70 people, many of whom were dressed in colorful red and green holiday attire.

Co-Director Mick Reed, 40, remarked that he is the band’s youngest member. “Some of the members are in their early 80s and, once a year, we rehearse with one of the early founders, Bob Chamberlain, who’s 95.”

Reed first joined the group in the mid-1990’s, playing for a couple years before moving into New York to pursue television film production. When he moved back to Fairfield three years ago, he bumped into Will Tressler, a semi-retired member, who suggested he start playing again. Reed plays a 4-string or plectrum banjo.

“We do mostly gazebos and private parties,” said Reed. “This is the first time we’re doing a Christmas show and we hope it becomes part of a family holiday tradition.”

Filmscool.org, the concert beneficiary, is a program of the Community Film Institute, an organization started by Reed and real estate developer and Community Theater owner Leo Redgate. The group introduces young people living in underserved areas to film and video.

“We give them Flip Video cameras and set them up with Macs to do edits,” said Reed. “The main thing is for them to have fun and shoot whatever they want. This is the third year of the program and we hope that the kids will come back as instructors.”

Reed said the program is currently run out of the Burroughs Community Center on Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport, though he hoped to expand it to other community centers.

“We found out half the kids are into skateboarding, and they are making almost professional skateboarding videos,” said Reed. One such student is Danny Freeman, 14, of Bridgeport who was attending the Christmas show.

“The program is amazing. My focus has been on filming skateboarding and guitar playing,” said Freeman. “My work has been up on the internet and is getting some attention from companies who want to sponsor me as a skateboarder.”

While the band strummed out holiday favorites like “Let It Snow”, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Jingle Bells”, just a few of the 22 songs on their playlist for the event, Reed’s wife Tisola, 29, and their 16-month-old daughter Sohana danced in the aisle.

“I think we’ve been to all the shows, whether Sohana is asleep or awake,” said Tisola. “This is very exciting because of the holiday focus… and many of our neighbors and family are here. We get a lot of hillybilly music at home. Sohana really relates to the banjo because of the vibration. She actually grabs it and plays it like a sitar.”

They weren’t the only aisle dancers. William Erickson, 4, Lucinda Erickson, 2, their cousin Noah, 4, and Liam Furlong, 4, circled about and rolled around to the bubbly beats. William and Lucinda’s mom said, “Mick recruited my husband Keith this year to play banjo. He’s always been musical and plays guitar and ukelele.”

Reed’s parents, Joe and Jeanne Reed, were also in the audience. “We came from Ohio for the concert and for the holidays. We love the banjos.”

Louise MacCormack might as well be a family member, as she has enjoyed the band for over 30 years. “I’m enjoying hearing Mick, whom I’ve known since babyhood, and watching his daughter having fun. It’s nice to see the younger people here.”

Fairfield Experiences Flurry of New Home Building

Fairfield Experiences Flurry 
of New Home Building:

Candy House Workshop 

inspires creativity

(Posted to 

Fairfield.Patch.com 12/18)

By Mike Lauterborn

© 2010. All Rights Reserved.

12/18/10

Fairfield, CT – In the span of an hour or two, 20 new homes were erected in Fairfield’s Beach Area, but don’t bother going to see them. They likely will have been eaten by the time you arrive.

These homes were not the brick and wood structures you might expect but miniature candy houses constructed by teams of children and their parents at a Candy House Workshop held Saturday afternoon Dec. 18 at the Burr Homestead, 739 Old Post Road. The event was sponsored by the Fairfield Museum and History Center and required advance registration. More than two dozen people participated in the activity.

The museum’s Director of Education and Community Programs Christine Jewell had picked up all the candy supplies and, with docent Robert Garbarini’s help, was laying them out on two long tables in the historic home’s front hall. She wasn’t sure how many pounds of candy she had purchased, but said, “I have a small compact car and had to put the seats down. The candy filled the whole back.”

It was an impressive collection of goodies to be sure: Froot Loops, peppermint candies, Frosted Mini Wheats, red licorice whips, pretzel squares, fruit flavored snacks, Skittles, natural animal crackers, mini and large marshmallows, sugar cones, Gummi Bears, gumdrops, chocolate chips, M&Ms, graham crackers and candy canes.

In addition, 19 pounds of ready-to-spread vanilla crème icing, purchased from Bresky’s in Bridgeport, and milk cartons donated by Wade’s Dairy of Bridgeport and mounted to foamcore squares, were supplied to participants.

Museum coordinator Walter Mathis, dashing about with a Santa hat on his noggin, said, “Materials change from year to year depending on what’s in stock and where people go.” He guessed that this is the 15^th consecutive year that the museum has been holding this event and said it had been initiated by a volunteer, Jeanne Harrison.

“It’s a nice family activity,” said Jewell. “Parents will bring their friends, kids will bring their friends, they’ll all hang out and socialize, and the kids will sneak some candy.”

“What’s amazing is the creativity of the people putting things together,” added Mathis. “They are unlimited in their design. But what’s even more magical is the people that return year after year, who have made this event part of their holiday family traditions.”

Arriving families collected their milk carton bases and reported to a sunny back room where several tables had been dressed with red plastic covers and topped with additional materials like plastic knives.

The Im-Haas clan of Fairfield – Dash, 7, Jolie, 4, and mom Elizabeth – were one of the returning families and had set themselves up at a windowside table. “The kids eat the house both during and after making it. I think it’s the first thing they ask to do as they begin,” said Elizabeth.

Frank Sabados, 5, and mom Alene, also Fairfielders, were returnees as well. “We did this last year. Now this is a new tradition that Frank and I do. His siblings are home sleeping. He’s an expert candy house maker,” she said.

“Mom, remind me not to eat it when we get it home like I did the other one,” suggested Frank.

Sydney Lennon, 8, brother Nate, 5, and Sydney’s friend Caroline, 8, collaborated on their home projects. Sydney and Nate’s mom Jessica was glad the museum was hosting the activity. “This is a fun, festive Christmas activity and we get to do it here, not at home. That’s a plus – no clean up!”

Deron Galusha had been recruited to bring his sons Patrick, 8, and Robert, 9, to the event. “My wife signed them up so she could go shopping. It sounded fun.”

Chris Hayes and his children Caylin, 8, and Ryland, 11, visiting for the holidays from California, had been led over by Chris’ mom Beth, a Fairfield resident. “They wanted to build a gingerbread house and, lo and behold, the museum was holding the workshop here,” she said.

Like a real construction site, rubble began to collect everywhere, but it consisted of graham cracker crumbs, icing globs and stray gumdrops instead of concrete and lumber scraps. And the work site uniforms were not overalls but chocolate spattered t-shirts worn by sticky-fingered carpenters.

Frank Sabados had made great progress with his creation and declared that it was Santa’s house. Mom Alene asked him if Santa had a dog. “No,” he said. “Do we have a dog?” she queried. “Yes… Daisy,” he said. “What would Daisy do to this house?” she pressed. “Eat it…. We better put it up high when we get home,” said Frank wisely. 

Gazing Into the Magic Snowglobe

Gazing Into the Magic Snowglobe:

Weather experts and locals make the call for Xmas Day

(Posted on seven local AOL Patch.com sites 12/17)

By Mike Lauterborn

© 2010. All Rights Reserved.

12/14/10

Fairfield County, CT – Come Christmas Day, will Fairfield County residents be dashing through the snow or sunning on the back deck? Patch polled a local meteorologist for his holiday weather prediction, prodded area residents about their preferences and checked the weather archives for historical nuggets.

When asked if we’ll have snow on the ground come Christmas morning, Paul Piorek, a lifelong Fairfield resident and 22-year News 12 weather anchor, cited climatology records kept over a 40-year period. He anticipated, “Shoreline communities like Stamford, Darien, Stratford and Milford have a 30% chance of seeing at least one inch of snow on the ground by Dec. 25. There’s a 10% chance of at least five inches by then, but zero percent chance of having ten inches of snow or more by Christmas morning.”

“Inland,” said Piorek, “the odds are more favorable. People living north of the Merritt or Wilbur Cross Parkways have a 57% chance of at least one inch of snow for Christmas. The odds are 23% for five inches of snow but very slim (3%) for at least ten inches of snow. However, residents in towns like Wilton, Redding and Easton will have a much better opportunity of seeing snow on the ground than their shoreline counterparts.”

A look at Christmas Day weather stats for the Greater New York metro area kept over more than 125 years show some trivia tidbits that you can share with friends and family over your holiday feast. Among these, 1909 takes the Snowiest title with seven inches, 2002 tops the Wettest list with 1.30” (snow’s liquid equivalent) and 1980 takes honors for the Coldest Lows with a bone chilling -1 degree. On the flip side, the years 1889 and 1982 tie for Warmest Highs with a balmy 64 degrees.

A storm that many area residents over the age of 50 remember is the Christmas Eve storm of 1966, when over a half-foot of snow made roads quite slippery and travel very difficult. A more recent snow event occurred Christmas Day 2002. It began with light drifts but became steadier and heavier throughout the day. Snow totals by day’s end were impressive with 9.5” in Redding, 9.2” in New Canaan, 7” in Norwalk and Greenwich, and 6.5” in Westport.

Conversely, 2006’s December holiday was a break-out-the-Bermuda shorts period with temps hovering between 44 and 58 degrees in the Dec. 23-26 span, well above the 38-degree norm. To boot, over a quarter inch of rain was recorded Christmas Day.

Polled about their preferences for snow on Dec. 25, locals were consistently agreed that snow definitely made the holiday.

“I prefer to have a light snowfall on Christmas morning,” said Pam Murphy, 44, of Fairfield, “and there’s no more beautiful town than Fairfield with a light dusting of snow. It’s like a winter wonderland!”

Callie Dixon-Weekes, 24, of Norwalk, said, “I love seeing snow on Christmas. I think it’s part of the tradition and brings out the beauty in the world. It makes it fun for the kids, too. I hope I get to make some snow angels with my daughter, Lily, who’s 3 ½. She’s so excited this year and making her list for Santa.”

Stamford resident Veronica Pasternak, 31, agreed with Dixon-Weekes. “I love to see snow on Christmas. If it’s going to be cold with hot chocolate and presents, you might as well complete the package… and it gives you a reason to go out and play. It just makes the holiday.”

Personal Challenges Lead to Career Calling

Personal Challenges Lead to Career Calling:

Judy Gardner takes NAMI reins after loved one’s mental illness

(Appeared on front page of 

Fairfield Sun 12/16)

By Mike Lauterborn

© 2010. All Rights Reserved.

12/9/10

Fairfield, CT – Judy Gardner did not become the president of the Fairfield chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) by chance.

Interviewed recently at First Church Congregational, where the chapter maintains an office, Gardner explained, “Several years ago, a loved one was hospitalized and diagnosed with mental illness. What I immediately needed to know was what the illness was, what was going to happen, how it was going to happen and what I could do to help my loved one as well as myself.”

Gardner said it was a difficult time. “There’s a whole range of emotions involved when dealing with a crisis, including shock, confusion and feelings of isolation. It can feel devastating. It felt like our life was thrown up into the air and into a million different pieces with no idea what was going to happen next,” she said.

A Connection to Help

She began reading everything she could about the diagnosis and discovered NAMI contact info in one of the books. Gardner walked into the local support group and found people who knew what she was going through because they had been there.

Gardner found more information and help understanding the mental healthcare system. “There are a lot of holes and gaps and no one hands you a map and says here’s what you do,” she said. And roadblocks abound. Due to certain confidentialities, a loved one may not be able to find out a diagnosis or be included in a treatment plan. “You’re often left powerless,” she added.

In contrast, there’s a complete protocol for care for a stroke victim emerging from a hospital and an abundance of information provided to the caregiver.

“NAMI fills this void,” said Gardner, “sharing the knowledge and skills its constituents have learned.”

After attending the support group, Gardner took the Family-to-Family course, which really changed her life, she said. “It enabled me to have more compassion for my loved one. I came to understand that it’s an actual physical brain disorder and not a personality flaw or chosen behavior. It empowered me to feel like I could handle this successfully. And I connected with people who had a shared experience.”

Gardner got so much from the program that she felt motivated to want to provide the same opportunity for other families to feel the same way and become empowered. In 2007, she was trained as a Family-to-Family instructor and support group facilitator and asked to be on the board. “I felt so strongly about the fellowship of NAMI that I accepted the presidency in 2008,” she said.

A Mission Driven by Need

A stigma has long been associated with mental illness, and sufferers and caregivers like Gardner have struggled to find information and resources to work through associated challenges. For the past three decades, NAMI, a non-profit worldwide organization with many local faces, has been working to change perceptions and provide critical support.

In 1979, a group of parents in Minnesota, whose children had been diagnosed with mental illness, frustratingly searched for information and resources to help them address and work through their issues. Recognizing that there were few answers and little guidance, they joined together to found NAMI with a mission of support, education and advocacy. Since its humble beginnings, the organization has grown to an international scale with over 1,100 affiliate groups worldwide.

The Fairfield chapter was founded in 2000 by town resident Nina Engstrom and First Church Congregational’s pastor David Spolette. Engstrom felt that there was a need for support services for families in the area that had loved ones living with mental illness. The first support group meeting was attended by 14 people, which Gardner said was a large turnout for this type of function. She added, “It confirmed there was a definite need in the community.”

The chapter now serves most surrounding towns including Weston, Easton, Trumbull and Bridgeport, and has 100 members and over 400 registered supporters. The latter receive a monthly e-newsletter, legislative alerts and event notices. The Fairfield group has also just been recognized by NAMI as the Outstanding Affiliate in Connecticut, an award presented to Gardner.

NAMI is funded through various streams including a springtime fundraising walk, membership fees, private donations and sales of custom greeting cards.

All programs NAMI offers are free and those hosted by the Fairfield chapter are held at First Church. Programs include a speaker-led session on the first Wednesday of every month devoted to topics like psychiatry, medication, estate planning, special needs trusts, wellness, coping, communication skills and hospital services. On the third Wednesday of the month, a support group meets to help people living with a mental illness who are in recovery and any associated family or friends.

Once a year, a legislative social, to which all the legislators from surrounding towns are invited, is held. The State Public Policy Committee, which is part of NAMI, identifies topics of concern to members and educates the legislators. Gardner said, “The legislative sessions are critical and often result in improvement in and preservation of existing services.”

Also held annually is Family-to-Family, a NAMI national flagship program. It spans 12 weeks and is open to family members living with people challenged by mental illness. The program is led by trained NAMI family members and provides communication and problem-solving skills, coping and self-care skills and information on the different mental illnesses and medication options.

An aligned program is NAMI Basics, which, over six weeks, gives caregivers similar help as Family-to-Family and information on dealing with schools and service providers.

Finally, the NAMI Book Club, which operates in conjunction with and is held at Fairfield Public Library, offers books focused on the mind and meets every other month.

Changing Perceptions

One of the main goals of NAMI is to eliminate the stigma normally associated with mental illness. “No one chooses to have a mental illness and, really, it’s a medical condition related to brain malfunction,” said Gardner. “The research that’s ongoing is helping to destigmatize mental illness. There’s both chemical and developmental dysfunctions that have been detected in the brain. Researchers are also finding strong genetic links in this area.”

Gardner added, “Mental illnesses are spectrum illnesses, so there are people on one end that can function with the illness and others who are debilitated. One out of four families in the U.S. is living with a loved one with mental illness.”

NAMI focuses on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, anxiety disorder, borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and panic disorder. For those afflicted, NAMI provides support groups, an In Your Own Voice program led by trained speakers that share their personal testimonies for living with and overcoming mental illness and a 12-week Peer-to-Peer program offering education and living skills.

Treatment is multi-faceted including talk therapy, medication, lifestyle adjustment, nutrition, exercise and guidance on self-care and balance.

“We want to take mental illness out of the closet, and the more light we shed on it and emphasize that it’s nothing to be ashamed of, the faster we can help remove the stigmas surrounding it,” Gardner hoped.

For more information about NAMI, contact Judy Gardner at 203-650-3463 or visit www.NAMIFairfield.org

SIDEBAR

Holiday Stress-Reducing Tips

Knowing how to handle stress is particularly important, especially at the holidays. This period is a time of high expectations around everything from company parties, present buying and family get-togethers to decorating, meal preparation and entertaining. The holiday adds a lot on top of everything else for which we are responsible.

Judy Gardner, President of the Fairfield chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said about the holiday time, “People find themselves out of time, out of money and out of patience. There’s an ideal for how things are supposed to be. It’s important to know yourself and take of yourself.”

Gardner suggested some guidelines for reducing stress during the holidays: (1) know your limits emotionally and financially (2) manage your time (3) learn how to say “no” (4) know what causes you stress (5) eat properly (6) get ample sleep (7) take some time for yourself to pursue a diversion like yoga, meditation, running, walking or listening to music.

“It’s so important to take time to do something that feeds you and takes care of you,” said Gardner. “If you can take 10 minutes to shuttle children to an activity, you can take 10 minutes to de-stress. You find that it feels good and can lead to longer periods of relaxation and self-care. Everybody around you benefits from you being in a better place.”

Gardner suggested similar strategies for surviving the cold, gray days of winter. “It’s important to get into the sunlight, go for a walk, make efforts to be with other people and do what you like to do.”