Early Voting Underway -- Your Vote Matters

As CEO and Co-Founder of The Rose, Dorothy Gibbons has seen the impact of elections as she advocates for women's access to care. As a result, she is a strong proponent of exercising the right to vote. In that light, she wanted to share the following from the recently released The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Pushes Back from the Brink that looks at the lives of women on the brink (and beyond) of economic instability and proposes suggestions on what can be done.

In 2014, 36 states will choose their governors, and 33 Senate seats will be up for election as well as thousands of additional openings from the state legislature to the school board. And in 2016, the nation will choose a new president. All of these elections create an opportunity for women voters to gain commitments from our political leaders to finish the undone work, including: expanding family and medical leave; ensuring high-quality early care and education for all children; and eliminating the wage gap so that these policies become an everyday reality for all women and their families. Voting is one of the simplest yet most powerful ways to create local as well as national impact. -- The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Pushes Back from the Brink

Mammography Matters - An Op/Ed from Dorothy Gibbons

After almost 30 years of providing breast health services to more than 400,000 women, I can state the following without a single note of hesitation: Mammography matters.

That statement should be read as emphatically as possible within the confines of print.  I say it as CEO of The Rose, Houston’s “go to” resource for breast health care and the provider of much needed care in 25 counties.  When Dr. Dixie Melillo and I founded The Rose in 1986, we were clear about our nonprofit mission.  We had seen far too many women come for “treatment” in such late stages that all we could do was hold their hands until death took them.

Mammography matters. I say that to family, friends— any person I love— because I want their cancer found at its earliest possible stage and for them to have the best possible outcomes with the least amount of treatment.

Mammography matters. I say it as a woman who cannot fathom being told that something potentially malignant, such as DCIS, could be found in my breast and left there because it was deemed “acceptable since it’s non-invasive.” 

With my long history, I’m familiar with the uproar often caused when a “study” questions the value of an annual screening.  The British Medical Journal fanned the flames of debate last week when they published a report out of Canada questioning the value of a mammography screening and suggesting that a physical examination was adequate.

Mainstream media wasted no time in including rebuttals to the findings with experts noting that both the study’s information gathering and conclusions were “obviously flawed”. Unfortunately, inflammatory headlines often take on a life of their own in social media as they are retweeted and shared. Soon the headlines— not the facts—become the news.

The Canadian study immediately drew fire from the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the Society of Breast Imaging (SBI): 

"[The article] provides an incomplete picture of the costs versus benefit of breast cancer screening programs and is misleading. The costs of morbidity, lost income, treatment of metastatic disease, death, and other real financial implications associated with a diagnosis of advanced breast cancer due to less frequent screening were not considered in [this] analysis."

The groups also noted that if guidelines for less frequent mammograms were followed, approximately 6,500 to 10,000 additional women in the U.S. would die each year from breast cancer. One physician remarked, “We can't talk about how many dollars we'll save without also talking about how many lives we're going to lose.”

I agree.  We cannot place a price tag on a woman’s life. 

Until there is a cure, The Rose will continue to promote and provide mammograms.  We will continue to focus on the importance of preventive health screening.  We felt pretty helpless back in 1986 when insurance didn’t cover screening mammograms, few physicians recommended them and awareness about early detection was zilch. Then, as now, we tackled each challenge to access, and, one woman at a time, made mammograms affordable and accessible to any woman—insured or uninsured.

As a result, The Rose has seen a reduction in the stage of breast cancers diagnosed at our centers and through our mobile programs—especially among our uninsured population—mainly because we are returning to those populations and providing annual or semi-annual screening. 

How sad, that after nearly three decades, the controversy continues. With so many demands on their time and attention, women don’t need any reasons to delay screening; they need encouragement.

So, again I say, because women matter, mammography does indeed matter.

Dorothy Gibbons is CEO and Co-Founder of The Rose, the nonprofit breast health organization for southeast Texas which includes two imaging centers and a mobile fleet reaching 25 counties. 

Another Reason Why ...

Two things that do not mix well – ice and Houston roadways.

Two more things that don’t do well together – rolling out our Mobile Program to more corporate offices on the same week ice is predicted on Houston roadways.

If ever there were a good week to ask, “Why?” …

AND YET … as I knew they would, The Rose staff “rose” to the occasion.

Imagine the scene: It’s Monday and two of our Mobile Team members Lilia and Donna are taking care of Cyberonics employees in record time. I know this because Karen, who is part of our Communications staff, was live tweeting the day and she actually timed one patient as less than 15 min.  (By the way, I NEVER thought I would use the word “tweeting” in a sentence.) Meanwhile, Cindy, the manager of our Mobile Team, is back at our Featherwood location juggling calendars and sites who were already letting us know they were closing for the next day’s anticipated ice storm. In between patients, Donna calls to see if they can stay late to cover the women who were supposed to be on the docket for Cyberonics second day of screenings. That’s when she finds out Thursday just opened up. So now Lilia is notifying Kim at Cyberonics who is reaching out to her staff to make Tuesday become Thursday!

Are you still with me?

Even though the teams can’t go out on Tuesday, Donna finds time to do a bit of breast cancer awareness.  She builds an ice man and the tweet of that little pink-ribbon wearing creature got retweeted by our local weatherman!

Now we get to Wednesday and a very COLD morning. When I arrived early(before 6 AM), I see three sets of the Mobile Team all bundled up and overcoming hard to open doors and frozen lifts and loading equipment in less-than-ideal-conditions. What I didn’t know is that they’ve already had to use jumper cables on one of the vans to get it to start!

As Cindy told me later, “When push comes to shove, they truly are a team – they all waited on each other and made sure each other was okay and knew the routes to take since the HOV lanes were closed.”

Since United Airlines was on the books on Wednesday and it was the first time we were going to the downtown offices, we really wanted to make a good impression. Well … no worries! This “true team” netted praise throughout the day via emails and on Facebook …

It was really a great day – people genuinely appreciated the convenience of getting it done at work in just a few minutes.  I never dreamed it would be so popular! – Amy of United

Thank you for arranging for The Rose to come to the office and do mammograms. Walking back and forth between Jefferson and Smith took longer than checking in and completing the mammogram. Definite productivity saver instead of taking time from work for an appointment elsewhere. – Susan in email to organizers Amy and Debbie at United

One more "brag" on The Rose Houston and their mobile unit....if you have the good fortune that your employer schedules this event...please take advantage. I was in and out in 15 minutes and Donna the RN was friendly and made you feel comfortable. There are no more excuses not to take care of you! OK, off my soap box now! – Bobbye 

Thursday the Cyberonics rescheduled day not only went well, it also provided us with the opportunity to photograph and hear from their CEO Dan Moore who will be speaking at our April luncheon this year. After seeing firsthand his employees’ positive response to having the mobile onsite and hearing about our dream of having a fleet of mobile units caring for women across Texas, he offered several great suggestions to help us better communicate with corporate leaders.

As Karen, who had interviewed Dan for an upcoming story, recounted their discussion to me, I had to smile. I remember back to the day when I first told her to use “fleet” when talking about our vans. Karen paused and I knew she was questioning whether three vans could really be called a “fleet.” But as soon as I shared the dream of reaching counties where they have NO ACCESS to breast health care and breaking down barriers like those of convenience that often keep women from making the preventive appointments we know will save lives, she understood. And she’s used “fleet” ever since.

 
I love to dream. I love it even more when dreams start to seem like reality.

And this dream is shaping up. With people like Amy and Debbie at United, Michelle (our board member who connected us to Cyberonics), as well as Kim and Dan supporting us, I believe that our expanded fleet will be needed sooner rather than later.

So thank you to our great mobile team -- Amy, Cindy, Adriana, Ana, Donna, Kemper, Lilia, Maria, Pepper, Rosa, Tabitha, Tran, and Tressa.

You ALL warmed my heart this week. And that’s the best way to get through a cold week in Houston! 

 

Dorothy Gibbons is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Rose.

Why The Rose Exists -- Dorothy Gibbons Offers One Answer (of many)

Every organization must answer the question – in good times and especially in bad.

Why?  Why do we exist?

I know what our mission says. I know what our Annual Report shows.  But sometimes it pays to walk away from the details and the data and just listen.

A week ago, I met the owners of several Twin Peaks restaurants that held events in October and raised an amazing $43,886 for The Rose.

John, one of the three brothers and franchisees, took the time to share a story.  He explained that they also own a Mexican restaurant in Needville and on a weekly visit there, he noticed that one of his employees was absent.  When he asked why, he learned she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  A few weeks later he caught up with her, and asked how she was doing.  She said, “I was sent to The Rose and they took care of everything.”

“Her story ‘sealed the deal’,” John said noting that they had already been in discussions about wanting to support a local organization with their efforts. Then he added, “That’s why everyone worked so hard to make the events so successful.”

Imagine the chances of this happening.  John wanted to raise money to “fight” breast cancer and his employee is sent to the one place whose reputation for “taking caring of everything” is second to none!
She had no idea that his other restaurants were raising money for The Rose, and John had no idea one of his own would be cared for by us.

Coincidence?  No … God.

And one of the reasons why The Rose exists.

Dorothy Gibbons' Annual Letter to the Staff

Dorothy Gibbons, the CEO and Co-Founder of The Rose, has prepared an annual letter to the staff every holiday season since The Rose began operations. We're sharing this year's with you!

Dear Staff,

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, one of our board members attended a Celebration of Life for her son.  He was only 46 years old.  I kept thinking how young he was and felt so sad.  While I cannot fathom even a smidgen of her grief, I have a son the same age, and wondered how I would handle such a loss.

When I consider that some of you are dealing with similar losses and think about how many of our women are facing their own final battle I am reminded once again of why we do what we do. Recently, Helen, our longest living volunteer, was in the hospital fighting for her life.   Thank goodness she’s ok now, but those days of worrying were endless!

So we ponder this thing called life.  Didn’t Gale, our speaker at the November meeting, make us intimately aware of how silly we are to get so involved in the busy-ness of life and how much value we place on what we think folks ‘expect’ of us?  When we lose what is ‘us’ the essence of who we are and who we love and maybe more importantly who loves us, we are truly alone. 

The word “busy” consists of two symbols in Chinese which mean: Heart and Killing. 

Let us make a promise to each other that we never get ‘too busy’ to tell someone we work with that we appreciate them, or someone we love that we could not imagine life without them.

My holiday wish for you and for The Rose is that we remember what comprises our core values and by God, that no matter what our individual job titles may be, there is not one position here that could ever be considered just a “job.” If you don’t believe that, let me introduce you to all the women we helped, women who did not have a chance or an option except for The Rose.

No matter what, you are making an incredible difference in this world.  You are helping a woman live another month or a year or ten years.  And, if you still have a doubt of the value of you and your work , then go talk to Donna, our board member,  and ask her what that additional month would have meant to her son or his children. 

The Rose doesn’t cure this disease called cancer; what we do is give women a little more time. 

Time to tell those they love how much each person means to them, time to arrange for a child’s future, time to hug again.  Donna’s son didn’t have that time.  He was here one day and gone the next.  He never had that chance to share, or hug, or say ‘I love you’ one last time.

Don’t you dare let another day pass without doing that.  Whoever you love, be it child, mate, parent, or co-worker, friend, neighbor or colleague, go now…right now… and let them know how much you care. 

There isn’t a human being on this planet that isn’t hungry for love and appreciation.  That is a gift only you can give!  Send the email, write the note, or pick up the darn phone and call them.  Try it. Nothing you could wrap up in a box would ever have the same meaning as THAT call from you.

May your holidays be rich in ways that cannot be purchased in any store.   You are a gift to me and one that I will forever cherish.

All the best to you and yours,

 

Dorothy

Great Day for a Pinknic ... And for FUNdraising for The Rose

A gorgeous day, a breathtaking setting, supportive sponsors, hard-working volunteers and the commitment of event organizers Kathy Morgan, Beth Dennard and Bonnie Sawyer made Pinknic one of the top ten fundraisers for The Rose in a month of awareness-building for the nonprofit breast health organization.

Carothers Coastal Gardens in Seabrook provided the perfect backdrop to the pink covered tables, pink-infused auction-items, pink lunch bags and even a pink-adorned and statuesque pelican which helped bring the day’s fundraising efforts to more than $12,200. 

 “To everyone who bid on the bounty of auction items, enjoyed the delightful picnic lunches and baked goods as well as the music by Mickey Hobbs, we cannot say enough ‘thank you’s’,” noted Dorothy Gibbons, CEO and Co-Founder of The Rose. “Your support truly enables The Rose to take ‘me to the second power’ and multiply our efforts throughout 25 counties.”

Gibbons was referencing the recently launched Me2 campaign of The Rose which encourages women to think “me, too” and make their health a priority while simultaneously acknowledging the community’s role in the nonprofit’s ongoing provision of services to the uninsured. While October is deemed “breast cancer awareness month” nationwide, The Rose depends on the numerous fundraising efforts that are scheduled on top of the educational events. In November, The Rose announced a record-breaking 83 fundraisers were put on by schools, sports teams, beauty product retailers, restaurants and bars in support of The Rose, bringing in more than $235,000.

And while organizers and The Rose staff are grateful for the incoming funds which will help cover the costs of the nearly 10,000 women who need some level of financial assistance annually, the event made an additional impact on the Seabrook community. Beth Dennard reported that Dodie Miller, owner of Miller Machines in Seabrook, who won the Pelican of Seabrook’s Pelican Path Project, intends to donate his newly acquired and soon to be painted pelican to the Seabrook Fire Department.

The Rose -- currently with two locations and a mobile fleet that extends to 25 counties -- has been serving the Bay area for all 27 years of its existence, and the commitment continues. Last year, 9,571 Bay Area residents were provided screenings and 2,064 received diagnostic services. Of those, 111 had their cancers detected.

Pinknic sponsors and underwriters for the inaugural event included Bright Futures Consulting, the City of Seabrook, Libby Jones, realtor with Gary Greene, Smith Analytical, Bolivar RV Resort, Hill’s Discount Liquor, Neptune Subs, Panera Bread, Robinette Catering, Arlan’s, Kroger, Randalls, and Classic Café, Cake Place.

"30 for Ana" Turns into 30 Miles AND More than $30,000!

Before Ana Barron Garcia passed away from Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) at 35 years of age, she was on a mission to educate her community on the little known but deadly form of breast cancer which often strikes Hispanic women. After her death, her family continued her mission. In October they also honored her memory and provided for women like her with their “30 for Ana” Run benefitting The Rose, the nonprofit breast health organization where her cancer was diagnosed.
Not only did the 25 runners cover 30 miles, they also exceeded their $25,000 goal and raised more than $31,000 to support uninsured women who need screening or diagnostic services at The Rose.

As a result, “30 for Ana” was the top non-corporate fundraiser for The Rose in October. In November, The Rose announced a record-breaking 83 fundraisers were put on by schools, sports teams, beauty product retailers, restaurants and bars in support of The Rose. And those activities brought in more than $235,000 in what is nationally deemed “breast cancer awareness month.”

"It was very important to us that we give back to The Rose.  The Rose was instrumental in Ana's diagnosis and supported her along her journey,” said Daniel Barron, Ana’s brother, who initiated the fundraiser last year along with his sister Sandra, brother Johnny, and Ana’s husband Gerry Garcia. “During her battle, Ana was also an advocate for The Rose and helped to educate and spread awareness of Inflammatory Breast Cancer.  As Ana's Angels, we want to continue Ana's mission of spreading IBC awareness, and using that as our driving force, raise money for The Rose." 

The early morning run covered a route intentionally designed to trace many of the significant stops on Ana’s journey as she battled the disease -- MD Anderson, Houston Hospice, The Rose – and concluded at Grandview Cemetery in Deer Park where Ana is buried.

Six years younger than Ana and an avid runner, Daniel told the crowd gathered to celebrate the successful run that it was a small way to connect with his sister’s ability to endure physical challenges as she fought the disease. “Running 30 miles isn’t anything compared to going through cancer but you do have to push yourself,” he noted.

While last year’s run was focused on four individuals covering the 30 miles, this year teams were formed in order to make shorter distances an option. The shorter distances meant Ana’s children Bryanna, now 13, and son Maverick who is nine years old was able to run alongside (and sometimes ahead) of their father, Gerry, who is not a sport runner but still participates in the event at the 30 mile level.

Runners included: Aurora Pecero, Bryanna Garcia, Cathy Capetillo-Malone, Crissy Pena, Daniel Barron, Diana Tejeda, Erin Villasenor, Gerry Garcia, Ginger Stagg, Helen Martinez-Barron, Jeremy Peña, Jesse Pena, John Barron, John Reid, Jonathan Pena, Jorge Olvera, Julie Cruz, Julio Aguilar, Kevin Pena, Leticia Peña Martinez, Lucia Vasquez, Mark Ramos, Miranda Romero, Roxy Riggs-Mounter, Sandra Aguilar, Valerie Ramos, Veronica Ramos, and Vicki Sheppard.

Dorothy Gibbons, CEO and Co-Founder of The Rose joined family and friends who met at the grave to welcome the runners at the completion of the half-day event.

“Ana was special to us in so many ways,” said Gibbons. “She was not just a patient. She volunteered. She educated others about how aggressive Inflammatory Breast Cancer can be. And she lit up the room with that gorgeous smile. I know she would be smiling now at how compassionate and generous her family has been to the women we continue to serve.”

Supporters who helped make the large donation possible included family, friends, as well as organizations and businesses such as The Corridor Shops in the Heights, Dr. Shirley Parikh with Bristles Family Dentistry, and University of Houston Alumni with Cougar Punch Tailgating.

For more information on The Rose, visit www.TheRose.org.