Mayor signs three proclamations Tuesday

Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard signed three proclamations Tuesday at City Hall in Franklin.
The first of the three was to proclaim all Fridays in February as “Wear Red Days,” to encourage citizens to wear red for awareness of women and heart disease.
This was attended by Dr. Gary Wiltz, CEO of Teche Action Clinic, Florence Beverly, events coordinator, and Karla Vappie, director of behavioral health and coordinator of the smoking cessation program.
Wiltz said, “February is heart Awareness Month and the general public needs to appreciate that the leading cause of death in men and women is heart disease; and the leading candidates for heart disease are African American women. So, we always take this opportunity in February to highlight and make sure that people can reduce their risk factors for heart disease.”
Following the “Wear Red Days” proclamation, Foulcard signed in proclamation of February as Children’s Dental Health Month.
In attendance was Dr. Kimberly Bibbins, dental director at TAC, who said, “Oral health care starts in the home, and it is very important that we start kids at an early age to know the importance of good oral health.”
She also advised parents to start bringing their children to the dentist as early as six months of age.
Lastly, Foulcard met with Tiffany Wilson, Autism Speaks volunteer advocate ambassador and signed in proclamation of April as National Autism Awareness Month in St. Mary Parish.
Wilson is one of four volunteer advocate ambassadors for Autism Speaks in Louisiana.
She said a 5k autism awareness walk will be held at Morgan City High School on March 16, and that she would like to have an awareness walk in Franklin around Labor Day.
She said she would like to see an awareness walk in Franklin because she knows that not everybody can make it to Morgan City and she is cognizant of that fact.
“Have the meetings here, so information can be put out,” said Wilson. “Plan stuff at school, so that awareness can be brought to the school. Target special education, so that the teachers can get the tools to the parents. A lot of them don’t know what to do, what the next step is.”
Wilson can be reached at tiffwilson73@yahoo.com for more information on Autism Speaks.