By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
When you walk down the hallway for the first time to participate in a test that could potentially alter your life, it’s not unusual to be nervous.
Trudy Hassler, Director of Imaging and Cardiac Services for Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington, knows that fact all too well, especially since the test is a mammogram and its potential to diagnosis cancer is a nightmare situation all women dread.
That could be why Hassler – and the other nurses and techs involved with mammograms at the hospital – all smile and try to keep smiling and laughing.
“Some people don’t come because they’re scared. If you can make something uncomfortable fun, people tend to do it again,” Hassler said Friday as Memorial Hospital played host to Karen Dalessandro’s “Mammo Party” and “Check Up for Chicks.”
Dalessandro lost her mother to breast cancer in 2009, and the Mammo Party and checkup is part of an education and awareness campaign that is near and dear to her heart.
“What I have discovered over the years is that there are a lot of women who make time for everything but themselves,” she said. “I wanted to spread awareness about the programs that are available for women to get screenings, and about how important they are.”
Friday’s event at the hospital was about more than just the mammogram, though more than 10 women received a free one. They also got a free bone density screening, a free massage, pink hair extensions and flowers and mugs from Gooseberries.
Pink string backpacks were made up for each woman as well, holding everything from keychains to candles to pink nail polish.
The goal? Get women in and out of a test that many of them dread – and to do it at no cost to them.
For the full story, please see the print edition of the Standard Press.
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