Starting time set for annual walk against breast cancer Pasadena Citizen News Archives Houston Community Newspapers Online - News Around Town

Starting time set for annual walk against breast cancer Pasadena Citizen News Archives Houston Community Newspapers Online - News Around Town
The starting line isn’t drawn yet, but the time to line up is now.

The Annual Komen Houston Race for the Cure is set for Oct. 2 and enters its 20th year as the largest foot race in Houston.

The walk is a show of support to those affected by breast cancer and raises, through entrance fees, thousands of dollars every year to go to research.

More than 32,000 participants are expected to make this year’s event another blow in the fight against a disease that impacts millions of women worldwide each year.

Recently, the Houston Affiliate of Susan Komen pledged $687,750 to the Rose, Houston’s non-profit breast cancer research and treatment center, which in 2009 served insured and uninsured women throughout the Houston area, translating to about $68,000 worth of medical and emotional services.

“The Rose and the Komen Houston Affiliate have a long history of caring for Houston women,” said Dorothy Weston Gibbons, co-founder and CEO of The Rose. “We are deeply grateful for their trust and belief in what we do. We are honored that every step of the way, the Komen Houston Affiliate has supported us.”

The Komen Houston Race for the Cure is the main fundraising event that helps organizations like the Rose to continue their services.

Gibbons said that the Houston area has the largest rate of uninsured women in the United States.

“Nearly one in three people don’t have medical coverage, and there are so few programs available for the working poor who make up half of the uninsured population.”

Opening ceremonies Oct. 2 will begin at 7:45 a.m. with the race officially starting at 8 a.m. entry fees for $30 for adults, $15 for children and $25 for survivors with an additional $5 charge for the competitive run.

To register online before Sept. 26, visit www.komen-houston.org For more information about The Rose, call 281-484-4708 or visit www.therose.org.

Alvin Woman Honors Sister Who Waited Too Long for Mammogram

by Rae Miller

Tina Grimstead-Campbell founded
Pink Petals for Pat in honor of
her sister, Pat.

Early detection is critical in saving women from dying of breast cancer. Collaboration and education are key components of early detection. That's why The Rose - a nonprofit breast cancer organization that provides mammography screening, diagnosis and early access to treatment - joins forces with other nonprofits, such as Pink Petals for Pat. Launched by Alvin resident Tina Grimstead-Campbell, Pink Petals for Pat is in honor of her sister.

Through her clothing, Tina could physically see there was something wrong with her sister’s breasts.

She insisted and even begged her sister – who was not insured –to go to The Rose for a mammogram. Finally, Tina just made the appointment for Pat herself.

It was May 11, 2007.

It was too late.

Pat died of advanced breast cancer less than two months later, on July 9, 2007. She was 44. Tina, meanwhile, had always been a big believer in breast self-examination. Shortly after Pat died, she found a lump.

"Like Pat, I was terrified," Tina remembers. "I thought 'this cannot be happening to me.' I prayed for God to take it away."

God didn't take it away, but he must have guided her to The Rose – the same mammography center her sister had been to.

At that time, Tina was also uninsured.

"When I walked in those doors – and I was by myself – I was absolutely terrified," Tina says today. "Pat had just passed away, and The Rose staff knew her story. They were so sweet to me, and made me feel really comfortable. They didn't care about insurance papers, or lack thereof. None of that stuff mattered. They just said, 'let's get you in here and see what's going on.'"

Tina's lump was benign.

“I will never forget The Rose," Tina says.

With that scare out of the way, Tina got busy honoring the promise she had made to Pat before she died - to not let others suffer breast cancer in silence.

Almost two years later, Pink Petals for Pat is an entire initiative that includes volunteers, public speaking, education, information, and outreach.

Tina organizes a variety of events to meet those initiatives.

There is an annual Girlfriends Brunch that has grown from 40 women to more than 130. The brunch provides an atmosphere where women feel safe talking about breast health.

"As African American women, we were taught you don't touch your bodies, and you certainly don't talk about your bodies," says Tina. "One lady who came to a brunch, she was 72 and had never had a mammogram."

Tina debunks other myths she says are floating around out there.

She has had women tell her they don't have to worry about breast cancer because their breasts are too small.

Other women have told her that the lump they have under their armpit is not cancer – it is simply caused by their deodorant.

Misconceptions such as these dishearten Dorothy Weston Gibbon, CEO and co-founder of The Rose.

After years of public awareness, knowing that misconceptions and myths still abound is discouraging and potentially tragic, Gibbons said.

But Pink Petals for Pat brings new hope and real tools capable of shaking up a world of misconceptions.

"I'm Caucasian but Tina is African American,” says Gibbons. “If I want to reach the women she can reach, she is who I need to be working with. She is my partner on the ground,"

"Tina gets out and about; she arranges social functions that bring women together. She builds trust. She is an amazing resource for women – and we at The Rose can provide the diagnostic services they need."

One such event is an annual "In My Sisters' Shoes Community Block Walk," that will take place in October.

Tina contacted the elementary school that Pat once attended for permission to set up the walk's starting line there.

She ended up learning that the school's assistant principal was also a breast cancer survivor.

She also learned that, had it not been for The Rose mobile mammography unit, things might have turned out differently.

The story, as Tina tells it, is that the school principal wanted her mother to go for a mammogram. Mom didn't want to. She said she was "too old" to worry about such things. She was in her late 70's.

The daughter persisted with no luck. Finally, she told her mother she would go with her. They would both have mammograms, together. It worked.

Turned out mom was fine, but the daughter was not. She was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Caught at an early stage by The Rose, the principal can now say she's a breast cancer survivor.

In addition to the community block walk, Tina also has Pinkie Tee Parties.

The parties are something like a bridal or baby shower with games and prizes. The hostess is even provided with Pink Petals for Pat invitations and matching reply envelopes.
The Pink Petals volunteers show up, serve party food, then start educating – but in a fun, almost festive way.
Take, for example, the game where hot pink bras are stuffed with cotton. Hiding within the cotton are little pink baby aspirin.

"We give each lady a bra and ask her what she feels," says Tina. "Most of ladies get it wrong. The point is, there are some lumps you can't feel."
Tina even busts out Hershey Kisses. The chocolate candy is shaped like a teardrop or, like a breast with a nipple.
Some of the candy kisses have coconut. Others are plain, others have caramel, some have almonds.
What we’re trying to show, says Tina, is that breast lumps come in all forms.
Next, Tina wants to launch an annual Survivors' Pink Pajama Party. She's certain her sister would approve.
"I still talk to Pat all the time. I do. She was such a kind-hearted person, I know she must be thrilled," Tina says.


Certainly Dorothy Gibbons is.


"Isn't it amazing that the people we served before are the same ones who can now help us reach the population we need?" Gibbons says. "It's a magical connection."

Latonya Sam Empowers African-American Women to Care Enough to Live

Latanya Sam, office supervisor of The Rose Galleria

By Rae Miller
Originally published on Click2Houston.com
The Rose Mobile Mammography Program serves an 11 county area. Obviously, they're willing to come to you – but will you be there when they arrive?


"We've always had a problem in the disadvantaged communities, particularly in the African American population, of people making a reservation or booking an appointment, but then not showing up," says The Rose Development Director Carol Wright. "Our no-show rate is extremely high."

For instance, during fiscal year 2009, more than 7,346 appointments were made for mobile mammograms. Slightly more than 1,970 women did not turn up, resulting in a no-show rate of more than 26 percent.

Comparably, at The Rose's southeast Houston location, the no-show rate was 9.82 percent.

And at the former Bissonnet Center – now The Rose Galleria on West Loop South, the no-show rate was higher than 18 percent.


“These rates are not acceptable”, says Latanya Sam, office supervisor of The Rose Galleria. Sam has the reputation for doing just about anything to get women to come in for their mammograms – especially African American women.



Case in point - Sam recently had a patient who arrived three hours late for her mammogram, because she had to wait until her daughter got off work to get a ride. Sam had to reschedule the patient's appointment, but it took two more attempts before the patient came in, even though Sam offered to do the driving herself.

Sam lives in Humble, the patient in Spring.

Sam even transports patients from Cleveland to Houston twice a month for mammograms.

Lack of transportation and lack of childcare are just two reasons African American women are not getting their mammograms, Sam says.



They're also afraid it will hurt, she says.It's not exactly fun to get a mammogram, Sam agrees, but it shouldn't hurt.

"I will ask them when they come out 'was it that bad?' They say 'no, no, no,'" Sam says.



Getting minority women to come in for a baseline mammogram is one thing, but getting them to follow up with yearly breast exams is another.

The African American culture is somewhat private and sensitive when it comes to their bodies and their health, says Sam, who is African American herself. And, just like the mobile mammography program, if you can't come to Sam, Sam will come to you.

"Education and building trust is key. Over the last few years, a lot of churches have requested The Rose come out and speak or come out and provide information," Sam says.

Sam says she's been able to touch two women that way – one who was 63-years-old and has never had a mammogram.



Wright says it's concerning when women call, say they have a lump, and then don’t keep their appointments. It's also incredibly dangerous. A delay in diagnosing cancer could mean a larger, more advanced cancer.

Early detection is the number one step to fighting breast cancer and Wright wants to get to the bottom of why no-shows are happening.

Now she can, thanks to a grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.



The CPRIT grant is nearly $1 million over a two-year period, the largest grant The Rose has ever received.



"The purpose of the grant is to get more minority women into screening services as quickly as possible," says Wright.

The Rose will do this by using grant money to expand its Empower Her to Care program and its mobile mammography program.



Last year, The Rose served 27,450 women, of whom 8,117 were uninsured. Of the uninsured women, 57 percent were Hispanic, 15 percent were Asian and 12 percent were African American.

"If we can figure out the reasons why these women not coming in, then we can better address the obstacles," Wright says. "We want to show CPRIT that we can decrease the number of no-shows and increase the number of women we're serving."



Using the CPRIT grant, the objectives of Empower Her to Care are to increase first-time screening of both African American women and Hispanic women, decrease no-show rates and educate patients about their health.



Whatever it takes, The Rose is determined to reach minority women.

"It's so important," says Wright, "because an early diagnosis means a 98 percent survival rate."

----------------------------------

About The Rose:

For more information or to make an appointment, visit www.the-rose.org or call 866-680-4708

Insured and uninsured women are welcome.

The Rose Southeast, 12700 N. Featherwood, Suite 260, Houston, 77034

The Rose Galleria, 5420 West Loop South, Suite 3300, Bellaire, 77401

Komen Houston Affiliate Pledges $687,750 to The Rose

The Rose Board Chair Myrleen Knott (left)
and CEO and Co-Founder Dorothy Gibbons
at the Komen Houston Affiliate awards luncheon.

Their relationship, which is dedicated to reducing deaths from breast cancer, goes back 18 years. That’s when the Houston Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® donated its first gift to The Rose – $9,000.

The two nonprofit organizations will fight this disease again this year with a pledge of $687,750 from the Komen Houston Affiliate to The Rose, a 24-year-old nonprofit breast cancer organization that last year delivered more than 68,000 medical and educational services to both uninsured and insured Houston-area women.

In addition, the Komen Houston Affiliate has recognized The Rose with the 2010 Impact Award for Overall Outstanding Performance.

The $687,750 donation will help fund the Empower Her® Sponsorship Program that provides services to more than 7,000 uninsured women. The services include mammograms, ultrasounds, biopsies and access to treatment. The gift will cover many expenses needed to operate the Patient Navigation Program that assists more than 200 women a month who are in treatment.

“The Rose and the Komen Houston Affiliate have a long history of caring for Houston women,” said Dorothy Weston Gibbons, Co-founder and CEO of The Rose. “We are deeply grateful for their trust and belief in what we do. We are honored that every step of the way, the Komen Houston Affiliate has supported us.”

Gibbons said the Houston area has the highest uninsured rate in the United States. “Nearly one in three people don’t have medical coverage, and there are so few programs available for the working poor who make up half of the uninsured population.

The Rose operates two mammography centers, The Rose Southeast in south Houston and the new Rose Galleria on West Loop South. The centers are staffed by more than 90 employees including four on-site physicians – two radiologists and two general surgeons. Two mobile mammography units serve the surrounding 9-county area.

For more information about The Rose, call (713) 668-2996, or visit http://www.therose.org/, and The Rose Facebook page.

For more information about the Komen Houston Affiliate, call 713-783-9188, or visit http://www.komen-houston.org/.