For Immediate Release	Contact: Joyce Faria Brennan
May 6, 2005	508-961-5270
	brennanj@southcoast.org
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Dalton Heney, left, and Jared Sewall, both Wareham High students, listen intently at the 7th Annual Southcoast Hospitals RAPPP Male Conference.

TAUNTON, Mass. — Students in New Bedford, Wareham and Fall River joined some 200 teenage boys from across the region on Wed. May 4 for a daylong conference geared toward empowering adolescent boys to believe that they have a choice and a say in how their lives turn out.

The conference, "Heroes Among Us, Heroes Within," is the 7th annual Male Conference sponsored by the Southcoast Hospitals' RAPPP (Responsible Attitudes toward Pregnancy, Parenting & Prevention) program as part of the hospitals' community benefit program.

The boys were captivated by a variety of speakers including Patrick Pass of the New England Patriots, President Theordore Roosevelt (Keith McGough) character actor, Massachusetts State Police crisis negotiator, career councilors from the Army National Guard, representatives from Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and Brittany, Robbie and Robert Bergquist, junior high students who have received national attention for their ambitious "cell phone to soldiers" project. Ken Bell, Sports Director at ABC 6 News, WLNE in Providence, served as master of ceremonies for the fifth consecutive year. The conference was held at the Taunton Holiday Inn.

About Southcoast Hospitals' RAPPP Program

Kevin Peoples, a Wareham High student, left in grey Patriots T-shirt, looks on as "Theodore Roosevelt" (Keith McGough) enters the 7th Annual Southcoast Hospitals RAPPP Male Conference.

The Southcoast Hospitals' RAPPP (Responsible Attitudes toward Pregnancy, Parenting & Prevention) program addresses the high incidence of youth risk behaviors in Southeastern Massachusetts. RAPPP began as an adolescent pregnancy prevention program designed to be used within the curriculum of the health or science department of high and junior high school systems. The Family Education Department at St. Luke's Hospital develops, sponsors and administers the RAPPP program in conjunction with school faculty and administration. All materials, models, staff support and training are free of charge to the participating schools as part of the Southcoast Hospitals Group community benefits program. Southcoast's Community Benefits Report can be found online at www.southcoast.org/news/benefits/.

The Southcoast Hospitals' RAPPP program also impacts adolescents, parents, young adults and professionals in the community through a number of outreach training programs and conferences. In November 2004 the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Family and Community Health, awarded the RAPPP program this substantial funding as part of the state's "Science-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention in Select Communities" initiative. The grant, valued at $542,500, will run through 2012 with a maximum of $52,500 for fiscal year 2005 and $70,000 each subsequent year.

About Southcoast

Southcoast Health System, a not-for-profit charitable organization, is a community based health delivery system with multiple access points, offering an integrated continuum of health services throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and East Bay, Rhode Island. It includes Southcoast Hospitals Group, formed in 1996 from the merger of Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.

Southcoast is one of three community hospitals approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to perform open heart surgery and primary angioplasty beginning in Spring 2002.

Media Contact

Joyce Faria Brennan
Phone: 508-961-5270
Pager: 508-387-9605
Fax: 508-961-5876
brennanj@southcoast.org