Polio to Prematurity: Mickey Rooney & Roosevelts Recall 50th Anniversary of Polio Epidemics

Prematurity Is Today's Infant Health Crisis

Photo Opportunity

WHEN:  
Thursday, January 27, 2005, 11:30 A.M. (ET)

WHERE: 
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, NY.  Wallace Center – Seymour and Vivian Milstein Auditorium.  About 4 miles north of Poughkeepsie, NY on route 9.

WHO:  

• Anna Eleanor Roosevelt & family – Franklin Roosevelt's granddaughter, March of Dimes National Trustee, chair of the 50th Anniversary of the Salk Vaccine and co-chair of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Ms. Roosevelt will be joined by several other members of the Roosevelt family.
• Mickey Rooney – Stage and Hollywood screen star and long time celebrity volunteer for the March of Dimes.
• March of Dimes Hudson Valley National Ambassador family, Christine and Michael Hine and 5-year old son Mickey.
• Second Graders from Chancellor Livingston Elementary School in Rhinebeck, NY
• Dr. Jennifer L. Howse - president, March of Dimes.

WHAT: 
Hollywood superstar Mickey Rooney, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, and several other members of the Roosevelt family will join the March of Dimes at the FDR Presidential Library and Museum to honor the 50th Anniversary of the Salk polio vaccine. This will kick off a year-long celebration by the March of Dimes to pay tribute to Dr. Jonas Salk's vaccine that virtually eliminated polio from North America.

Mickey Rooney will talk about his early days as a March of Dimes celebrity volunteer.  He and co-star star Judy Garland worked together to combat the terrible polio epidemics that afflected thousands of children each year in the U.S. back in the 1950s.  In fact, they made a public service announcement in 1940, eating ice cream and asking Americans to send their dimes to the White House to help the March of Dimes find a cure for polio.   

The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. In 2003, the March of Dimes launched a five-year, $75 million Prematurity Campaign to raise public awareness and decrease the rate of premature birth. For more information, visit the March of Dimes Web site at http://www.marchofdimes.com/ or the Spanish Web site at http://www.nacersano.org/.

CONTACTS: 
Story info call Todd Dezen at (914) 997-4608 or cell at (914) 843-1068, or email at tdezen@marchofdimes.com.  Or Michele Kling at (914) 997-4613 or cell at (914) 843-9487, or mkling@marchofdimes.com.