2019-08-01 05:19:18
ASTRO recognizes Sisters Network Chicago Chapter and ALAS-Wings
TWO CHICAGO-AREA ORGANIZATIONS, SISTERS NETWORK CHICAGO CHAPTER AND ALAS-WINGS, were selected ASTRO’s 2019 Survivor Circle grant winners for the services they provide to cancer patients, their families and caregivers. Each will receive a $10,000 grant and be honored at the 61st Annual Meeting in Chicago. In addition to the monetary award, both organizations will be featured in the Survivor Circle exhibit at the meeting. The Survivor Circle Grant Program provides gifts of financial assistance to two cancer support organizations in the state hosting ASTRO’s Annual Meeting.
Sisters Network Chicago Chapter is part of the largest African American breast cancer survivorship organization in the United States, Sisters Network® Inc., whose mission is to increase attention on the impact of breast cancer in the African American community. Serving the Chicago area since 2000, their objectives are to be a strong support base and emotional safe haven for women diagnosed with breast cancer; to lead advocacy and educational outreach efforts; and to educate their communities about the importance of early detection through routine screening.
According to Chicago chapter president Annie Jones, the emotional safe haven is their support groups. “Women diagnosed with breast cancer are going through a lot emotionally,” she stated. “The support groups help them” by providing the company of fellow survivors with whom to share information.
The Chicago Chapter is one of more than 40 affiliate chapters of Sisters Network Inc. Their purpose, according to their website, is to “save lives and provide a broader scope of knowledge that addresses the breast cancer survivorship crisis affecting African American women around the country.”
Their philosophy is that no woman should forego living to get through treatment, and they use their Breast Cancer Assistance Program (BCAP) to help those currently in treatment who may have lost employment or have large insurance co-pays. Originally, funds helped only with living expenses. The program has expanded to include providing prostheses, bras and compression sleeves to help with lymphedema. “We give them money to help them financially,” Jones said, but also to help maintain their dignity. “If they didn’t have a prosthesis or mastectomy bra, they wouldn’t be comfortable going out in public. We give them two sleeves, so they can alternate and always have a clean one.”
The chapter’s signature community event, The Gift of Life Block Walk, educates and provides primary health screenings for more than 300 people, and the organization conducts monthly support group meetings for survivors. To learn more about Sisters Network Chicago Chapter, please visit www.sistersnetworkchicagochapter.org.
ALAS-Wings, empowering Hispanic women in the Chicago area with breast cancer awareness, differentiates itself by offering face-to-face, tangible services in every phase of the breast cancer process. Their services comprise free support groups, educational workshops, mobile salon services and yoga classes for breast cancer survivors and their family members.
ALAS-Wings facilitates support groups in Spanish for cancer survivors and their family and friends, providing a venue to share stories and celebrate milestones. Volunteer facilitators listen to concerns and offer empathetic, emotional support. One such volunteer, Bertha Mariscal, is ASTRO’s 2019 Survivor Circle Award winner (see story on page 48). Educational workshops focus on breast health awareness and navigating the process of cancer treatment, providing guidance and support for successful outcomes.
ALAS-Wings meets Latina survivors every day who are struggling to redefine womanhood and femininity in the absence of their breasts and provides free products for women who could not otherwise afford them through the mobile salon, ALAS on Wheels, which visits neighborhoods, health centers, parish houses and YMCAs. ALAS-Wings administrative assistant Sue Merlos recalls a recent salon visit by a woman who had had a right mastectomy. “She was uninsured and had made her own prosthesis out of a sandbag. She really didn’t know how else to feel normal. I kept telling her that she was normal. I also told her that she was in the right hands. As I started to fit her for the bra and prosthesis, her face lit up. As soon as she saw herself in the mirror, she broke down crying. She couldn’t stop thanking me and ALAS-Wings for her new look,” Merlos said.
ALAS-Wings enables Hispanic/Latina women to move beyond cancer. Most are not eligible for insurance and have limited access to the life-saving resources that increase survivorship and improve quality of life. The ASTRO grant will provide culturally and linguistically tailored education, free bras, prostheses and sleeves, and, most importantly, psychosocial support for Latina survivors. To learn more about ALAS-Wings, please visit www.alas-wings.org.
Please stop by the Survivor Circle booth to meet representatives of these fantastic organizations.
©ASTRO. View All Articles.