VS basketball players and Coach Deb Schirm presented a check for $3,775 to VGH Imaging Services.
The generosity of community members, breast cancer survivors and countless donors has made it possible for the Virginia Gay Hospital Imaging Services Department to offer mammography services to women who cannot afford to pay for them.
"Our business office informed me just recently that people have begun to access the funds – over $10,000 is available because of the generosity of various people and groups," said VGH Foundation Director Mike Timmermans. "The fund will pay for the clinic visit, mammography and the radiology to read it. Patients can initiate this process and the providers have been good about telling people this fund is available."
One of the catalysts of this effort was the first Pink Night at Vinton-Shellsburg high school a few years ago, when coach Deb Schirm and her Vikettes honored breast cancer survivors and helped raised money for the fight against the disease. After that event, the survivors organized the support group for breast cancer survivors. The VS boys basketball teams and other teams have also participated in Pink Night events since then. On Thursday, members of the Vikette and Viking basketball teams presented a check for $3,775 to VGH Imaging Services personnel. The teams raised that amount through their Pink night events, including a silent auction of warm-up shirts and sales of T-shirts. Senior Vikette Megan Ternus and senior Vikings Max Kearns, Kelyn Rickels, Grant Sagan and Taylor Dinderman joined Coach Deb Schirm in presenting the check.
5k event planned
The survivors are also organizing a Party in Pink 5K event to raise more money for the Gifts of Hope. That event takes place the at 6 p.m. Friday, June 28, during the annual Vinton Party in the Park weekend.
More about Gifts of Hope
The Gifts of Hope is a program that Virginia Gay Hospital has created to provide free mammograms to anyone who qualifies financially, said Timmermans.
"Gifts of Hope is the result of a “perfect storm” of generosity from a lot of people. The Rick Murphy Family, through the Murphy Memorial Golf Tournament, the VSHS athletic teams’ pink/coaches against cancer nights, the hard work and dedication of the Benton County Survivors, and the many generous people who gave to the hospital last year so we could have our own digital mammography machine have all made it possible for the hospital to give back by offering Gifts of Hope.
Please consider contacting Virginia Gay Hospital or talk to your doctor if you’ve delayed getting a mammogram for financial reasons, advises Timmermans.
· EARLY DETECTION SAVES LIVES
· More that 1 in 4 cancers are breast cancer
· About 1 in 8 women in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
For more information call the hospital, talk to your healthcare provider, or look up Gifts of Hope on the VGH website, www.myvgh.org/foundation.
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