Tammy L. Cornman

Tammy Cornman, director of community health for the area, said: "Clean air is really important for everybody and certainly for young growing children.

Tammy Cornman, director of community health for Summit Health, presents Sue Bivens (right), a Waynesboro Hospital employee, with the quilt Bivens won in a drawing that was part of a campaign to promote the importance of mammograms.

Tammy CornmanCommunity Health ManagerSummit Health112 N. Seventh StreetChambersburg, PA 17201Phone : 717-267-7561Fax : 717-267-7952

"We had started out working with the county when we knew the current contract was ending," said Tammy Cornman, director of community health for Summit Health."We felt very strongly it fits our mission to reach out to the community."

Summit Health will use the state funds to expand a stop-smoking program begun in February, according to Cornman.

She said the state contract is challenging to implement because the Health Department wants to address all aspects of tobacco use.The department also gives strong direction.

"It's an incredible amount of work," she said.

She expects that Summit Health will hire two full-time coordinators and an administrative assistant after May 1 for the program.

"We recommend they follow the guidelines with screenings in hopes of preventing problems," said Tammy Cornman, director of community health at Summit Health.
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Cornman says there are also some things that they just aren't going to want to have done.
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"If you want to live a long healthy life it is possible by working with your doctor to make sure that happens," said Cornman.

It's not necessarily that the number of diagnosis are increasing, says Tammy Cornman, director of Summit Health's Community Health and Women's Heart programs.

It's because word is getting out more about the disease.

"Up until a few years ago there wasn't a lot of information about women and heart disease," said Cornman."It was believed to be more of a man's disease.Men are naturally more concerned as they age about heart related problems, but most women aren't concerned at all."

Cornman said cardiovascular disease amongst women "Has always been there, but it's never really been identified before."
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Cardiovascular disease is a blockage of the heart's blood vessels, said Cornman, and can lead to heart attacks and stroke.
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Cornman said women need to start a "heart healthy" lifestyle.Summit Health Tuesday offered a Women's Heart Advantage presentation that focused on the need for healthier eating and increased physical activity.

"Both are very key in helping also to address a large majority of the other risk factors relating to heart disease," Cornman said.

Heart disease doesn't begin with a heart attack, said Cornman.She said men and women experience different symptoms.

Men's symptoms are "more typical," she said.Chest pain, tightness in the chest, excessive pressure and sweating are often time experienced by men.Some women do experience these same signs, but Cornman said others have indigestion, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, back pain, and unexplained weakness or fatigue.

Women's symptoms tend to be a "little more generic and a bit more difficult to diagnose."Often, she said they are confused with other illnesses.

Elected were Craig Cordell, Tammy Cornman, Ed Franchi, Traci Kline and Phil Wolgemuth.
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Cornman has been with Summit Health since 1998 as director of Community Health and Women's HeartAdvantage.

"It's going well," said Tammy Cornman, Summit Health community health director and supervisor of the tobacco grant."I'm pleased with our progress.We're getting the systems up."

Cornman had planned for a $329,739 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, but found it cut by 28 percent.

The legislature had reallocated $10 million of the state's tobacco settlement money to Medicare programs and care of the elderly.

Many states, including Pennsylvania, settled in 1998 with tobacco companies over the cost of health problems caused by tobacco use.The settlement is expected to total $246 billion over 25 years.Pennsylvania divvies out its share of the settlement to 50 small programs across the state.

"We had to go back and re-look at everything," Cornman said, "and ask how to do the same things with $100,000 less money."

She did not cut back on compliance tests.The tobacco program contracts with a local group to test local vendors.A minor, under the supervision of an adult, attempts to buy cigarettes.

Cornman said that 83 percent of the county's 70 vendors did not sell tobacco products to minors.

A full-time coordinator and assistant run the Summit Health tobacco program.Because of budget cuts, Cornman abandoned plans to hire another full-time coordinator.She also cutback on anti-tobacco ads on television and radio and on school grants.

Linda Daugherty, a medical laboratory technician at Chambersburg Hospital, loads a blood sample into the new chemistry analyzer while Tammy Cornman, director of community health and the Women's Heart Advantage Program for Summit Health, watches.
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You're not alone, according to Tammy L. Cornman, director of community health and the new Women's Heart Advantage Program at Summit Health.
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"It's usually thought of as a man's disease," Cornman noted.Research typically was done on men because women were believed to be less at risk, she added.
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Cornman has talked with 725 women and reached thousands more through promotional materials since the program began in January.

"We started training in August, and it took a couple of months to plan."

The Heart Advantage program and most of Cornman's salary is funded through Summit Endowment, which supports nonprofit organizations through an application process for health care projects.

Cornman distributes bookmarks to the groups to whom she speaks about the warning signs of a heart attack.
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Most women are too busy as caregivers, and their own health is low on their priority list, Cornman said.

"We think we're fine and not paying attention, sometimes to the extent that we get ourselves in trouble and may end up with a heart attack."

Risk factors

A single risk factor increases one's chance of having heart related problems, Cornman said.
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It could save a lot of lives," added Cornman.

The program was first presented to Summit Health employees at both Waynesboro and Chambersburg hospitals, as well as the volunteers and auxiliary members.Summit Health has 2,400 employees, most of whom are women, Cornman added.

She has spoken to businesswomen and other women's groups and NARFE (National Association for Retired Federal Employees).She also will make presentations to the chambers of commerce in Waynesboro, Chambersburg and Greencastle.

Cornman will be available to answer questions at the health fair, set for 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.A Heart Health Fair will be held from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 24, in Summit Health Center on Norland Avenue in Chambersburg.Free screenings will be available at both locations.

"We are really encouraging women to talk to other women - share the statistics with their sisters, mothers, daughters, neighbors and friends - spread it throughout the community.We need help to get the information out," added Cornman.

"Screenings can help prevent disasters down the road," said Tammy Cornman, director of community health for Women's Heart Advantage at Summit Health.
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"There are some women who had a bad experience having the test done, whether it was painful or if they heard of women who have had bad experiences," said Cornman.

When it comes to mammograms, Cornman said new technology, such as mammopads designed to create warmth and cushion, make it more comfortable for a woman to get screened.