On Saturday morning, Methodist Hospital’s Breast Care Center welcomed over 150 visitors for its annual Open House. The event featured free breakfast, tours of the state-of-the-art facility, various screenings, bra fittings, and information from vendors and organizations such as Step Up For Inc., Know Your Lemons, and others.
Designed to provide the highest quality of breast cancer care with comfort and compassion, the care center is located at Methodist Hospital’s Southlake Campus in Pavilion A. Themed this year as “Go Pink,” the open house allowed visitors to see the quality of the facilities and meet the Methodist team first hand.
“It’s a day of support for women who have the disease and a day of support for women who might be high-risk,” said Jennifer “Jen” Sanders, manager of the Breast Care Center. “Particularly for the anxiety of people who don’t want to have mammograms, a time like this where things aren’t focused on their care lets them come up, see what the machines look like, talk to our technologists, learn who we are, and be comfortable.”
Sanders said that a key part of their approach is building a strong, long-term relationship with each patient.
“A lot of women spend a lot of energy on their hair, they find a stylist they like and go to them for years,” she said. “We want you to look at us the same way. We want you requesting us by name – we’re here to help you, embolden you, and decrease your anxiety. You’re not our mother, our sister, or our grandma – but you are somebody else’s, so we’ll treat you the same way we do our own family.”
Mary Kay Consultant Shelly Barnes set up shop at the open house and offered attendees “lipology” makeup classes. Barnes came to the event for more than the publicity – as a cancer survivor herself, she credits the Methodist Breast Care Center for saving her life.
“They are excellent, everybody on this team has compassion and realizes that you go through hell and back,” she said. “They know you’re going to have to make some changes in your life, things like your diet and doing more exercising. I do that because I want to be around for my great-grandchildren.”
Before the open house officially began, Step Up For Inc., presented the care center with a $2,500 donation. Led by CEO William Maio, Step Up 4 Inc., is an all-male organization that works to support women’s causes. They hold a number of events throughout the year to raise funds, and then donate to causes that directly impact the lives of those impacted by breast cancer – including direct donations to patients themselves.
“The Breast Care Center has really similar goals to us, and Jen is absolutely fabulous,” Maio said. “They’re about the patients, caring for them and giving them the assistance that they need. There’s a ton of money that gets sent to research, we want to be directly helping people. That’s what it’s about for us.”
To learn more about Methodist Hospital’s Breast Care Center and all of its services, visit methodisthospitals.org.
