June 1, 2001

From a Chelsea schoolteacher who continues to live a healthy life at age 90 to a Winthrop track coach who has won medals in the Senior Olympics, recipients of a special award presented at the "Celebrating Women, Living a Vibrant Healthy Life" event in Revere May 17 have something to be proud of.

The evening's highlight was an award ceremony to praise the accomplishments of six women chosen to receive the Role Model for Women's Health Award: Jennie Goodman Levine (pictured right, with a Revere student), a 90-year-old retired elementary school teacher from Chelsea; Carol Tye, Revere Superintendent of Schools; Ann Marie Messina, Everett Public Health Director; Patricia McGee (below,left, with a Revere student), five-time recipient of the Winthrop Coach of the Year for Spring Track Award and a six-time medalist in the Senior Olympic Games; Patricia Barth-Simpson, who founded a teen Shakespeare project in Charlestown; Rita Casoni, a social worker at the North End Community Health Center, who also serves as director of the Casa Monto Cassino shelter for immigrants; and Irene Duan, a Chinese interpreter for the MGH Back Bay HealthCare Center, who also teaches Tai Chi for seniors at Morville House.

The event featured free health screenings, as well as information about topics such as menopause and smoking cessation, with presentations by Nancy Rigotti, MD, director of the MGH Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, and Kathryn Teng, MD, an internist at the MGH Revere HealthCare Center.

Mallika Marshall, MD, of the MGH Chelsea HealthCare Center and WBZ-TV medical correspondent, joined local students and Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino in presenting the awards.

"Celebrating Women" was sponsored by the MGH and its health centers in Back Bay, Charlestown, Everett, Chelsea, the North End and Revere, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Prevention Centers, the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program, the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Revere Public Schools and the Revere Board of Health.