Hospital joins fight against cancer

By the time October rolls around, there’s a chill in the air along an otherwise picturesque Chicago lakefront. Shorts and sneakers are replaced with sweats and sweaters, leading into the perennial long and cold winter. But on one autumn day, a five mile stretch along Lake Shore Drive revives yet again, a sea of pink flowing along in sync with the lake itself.

These are supporters of the annual Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, and for the past seven years a group known as the “St. Bernard Pacers” has represented the hospital in raising thousands of dollars for breast cancer research and awareness. Over $50 million was raised across the country in 2007.

Led by Support Services’ Barbara Young, the Pacers are driven by the stories of those whose lives have been touched by cancer.

“We have quite a few survivors here in the hospital,” Young says, “and listening to their stories, it encourages us to support the walk. At the walk, there is an excitement in the air. Everyone has come together, to walk and support the same cause.”

In the early 2000s, St. Bernard sent its first group of Pacers to the Strides walk, and together they raised around $1000. Last year, the total exceeded $3000 and Young expects even more this year with almost two dozen walkers in tow.

October’s Strides walk can be a bit of a taxing experience, an early morning arrival to rendez-vous with friends and co-workers, then embark on a five mile journey that begins at 9am on the city’s north side.

“It’s a sacrifice to do it,” Young concedes. “But if it’s ever happened in your family… I think that’s what really strikes a note, if it has ever touched you. That makes you get up and go.”
Such was the case for Regina Haslerig (Business Office), who made her first lakefront walk in 2002 honoring a friend’s mother who had been stricken with breast cancer. “The most memorable experiences involve meeting the survivors, or the family members of those who have passed,” she recalls, “and hearing their stories of how they deal with the illness first-hand.”

Those stories have lasting effects on the walkers, including one in particular about a woman who refused to suffer from cancer treatments and instead battled cancer naturally.

“Her daughters told me about their father, who never left his wife’s side for all the time she battled breast cancer,” Haslerig recalls. “She never had chemo(therapy), and finally she went due to natural causes, as she wanted to. Her family gave her that wish.”

On October 19, the St. Bernard Pacers will return to the Strides walk in a show of support for those fighting breast cancer, and those helping friends and family members cope with the disease.

“It’s great that people are so willing to do this,” Haslerig says of her fellow Pacers. “They come back year after year.

“We are all geared up for this.”

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When Senator Mattie Hunter secured grant funding to allow uninsured women to receive mammography services, St. Bernard began contemplating means of bringing women to the hospital for these essential exams. One of the most impactful ways to reach the public involved promotion and advertising, and through a dedicated campaign, hundreds of women have taken advantage of free mammograms.

The “Time for a Mammogram” campaign sought to reach the average woman who is raising a family, commuting to work every day, or making ends meet without the safety net of health insurance.

“Public transportation is a great way to connect with people from every demographic,” says Darryl Nash, Communications Coordinator at St. Bernard. “We approached the CTA last year to help send the message about ‘Time for a Mammogram’ and the response was overwhelming.”

According to the hospital’s Department of Radiology, appointments for mammograms increased 50% once the campaign began. Many patients identified the CTA signage as the impetus for their visit.

“We are seeing women in their 40s and 50s coming in for their first ever mammogram,” according to Radiology’s Christine Allen. “We’ve seen younger women who have family history of breast cancer. These are exactly the results we were looking for.”