Members of the Chester River Yacht & Country Club organized and participated in the sixth annual Pink Polar Bear Golf Tournament on Sunday, July 25, raising $2,610 to benefit patients served in the Eleanor & Ethel Leh Women’s Center at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown. This year’s event attracted 84 club members.
Since 2015, the event has raised more than $20,000 to support breast cancer detection at the hospital.
“We call it the Pink Polar Bear tournament because early on, it was explained to us that finding breast cancer can be like trying to find a polar bear in a blizzard,” said Jane Hukill, tournament co-chair and hospital volunteer. “When we saw the capabilities of the tomosynthesis in mammography, we had to do our part to support the continued availability of this technology in Chestertown.”
According to Kelly Bottomley, UM Shore Regional Health’s Outpatient Imaging Manager, “Mammography is the medical ‘gold standard’ to identify breast cancer.” The Eleanor & Ethel Leh Women’s Center, which opened in October 2013, was the first facility on the Delmarva Peninsula to offer 3-D digital mammography with tomosynthesis, which can find breast cancer at the earliest possible stage. This capability is now available throughout the five-county area served by Shore Regional Health.
The Leh Center performs more than 2,800 mammograms each year and also offers bone density and BMI (body mass index) evaluation services, breast surgery, breast reconstruction surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery services.
Tournament co-chair and hospital volunteer Gwinn Derricott said, “Everyone says that this is the most fun tournament they play in because of the format and the camaraderie. We’ve come a long way from a group of nine and 18-hole lady golfers. We’re looking forward to many more tournaments.”
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,200 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers works with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is a university-based regional health care system focused on serving the health care needs of Maryland, bringing innovation, discovery and research to the care we provide and educating the state’s future physician and health care professionals through our partnership with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore professional schools (Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work and Dentistry) in Baltimore. As one of the largest private employers in the State, the health system’s more than 29,500 employees and 4,000 affiliated physicians provide primary and specialty care in more than 150 locations, including 13 hospitals and 9 University of Maryland Urgent Care centers. The UMMS flagship academic campus, the University of Maryland Medical Center in downtown Baltimore, is recognized regionally and nationally for excellence and innovation in specialized care. Our acute care and specialty rehabilitation hospitals serve urban, suburban and rural communities and are located in 13 counties across the State. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
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