The Breast Care Center at Methodist Hospitals offered women an evening of pampering and education at the Healthy Night Out with the Girls. This quarterly event has been bringing women to the hospital for years.
“We created Healthy Night Out with the Girls in 2012 when the Breast Care Center opened,” said Breast Care Center Manager Jennifer Sanders. “It’s just a way to reach out to women. It started out as a focus on breast health, but it just grew from there. We have evolved over the three years, finding different ways to educate women.”
With topics ranging from heart health to the risk of strokes, each Healthy Night Out has offered different, but always helpful, information for the women of the community. Not only does the night involve a presentation, but also chair massages, hand massages, bone density screenings, and refreshments.
“We do this during the weekdays for women coming off work,” said Sanders. “They can come in, get a chair massage and a hand massage. It’s kind of a small spa for them after a work day with education on top of it.”
Kauffman Chiropractic has been offering chair massages at Healthy Night Out for a while now.
“Our doctors are very passionate about giving back to our community,” said practice representative Amber Madox. “We are involved in a lot of the events in the area and we love partnering with Methodist for the Healthy Night Out. We’re able to meet people that we can help with our services. It is beneficial for our office, but we are able to give back at the same time.”
Lorraine Solaris attended the most recent Healthy Night Out and returned again on Thursday.
“I enjoyed the first time here with my daughter,” said Solaris. “I think [Healthy Night Out] is very informative. I think it’s very nice. More women should come out and try it. I think they would like it. Women should take the time to come check it out because you never know what you will learn.”
Following the massages, a presentation on the genetics of breast and ovarian cancer was given by Medical Genetics Specialist Dr. Janice Zunich.
“Genetics is a really important piece when you are looking at specific malignancies,” said Zunich. “I always like to think that it helps to clarify things for people who come to hear me speak. I think that it is important to recognize that genetics is a part of all of this and to understand that you can get information from professionals that do medical genetics. It’s also good for people to recognize that you do not inherit a breast cancer gene. These genes have other jobs, but when they don’t function correctly, they can then increase your chance for cancer.”
For more information on the programs and services offered by Methodist Hospitals, click here.
