Foundation gala to raise funds, honor awardees
The 2020 Butler Health System Foundation Crystal Ball will once again raise funds for a life-saving piece of medical equipment while honoring two very special women.
This year's ball, to be held Saturday evening at the Doubletree by Hilton in Cranberry Township, features a cocktail hour and presentation before a sumptuous dinner and dancing to the swing music of a big band.
The theme for the 2020 Crystal Ball is “Rustic Elegance.”
The ball is also the largest annual fundraiser for the BHS Foundation, which will purchase an automated breast ultrasound unit for the BHS Women's Imaging Center at the health system's Crossroads Campus.
Dr. Ruthane Reginella, director at the Women's Imaging Center, said the new unit will allow doctors to uncover tiny cancers too difficult to see in women with dense breasts.
“I am so excited and very passionate about this,” Reginella said. “I think this is really going to make a difference.”
Kris Bowser, development and events manager at the foundation, said the foundation is proud to recognize two community members through the Women of Legacy Awards. She said, typically, one woman receives the award each year, but the committee couldn't decide between the two this year and elected to recognize them both.
“Amy Hammonds and Sharon Schneider both recognized a need for programs to remain in our community and worked tirelessly to keep those programs here,” Bowser said. “The BHS Foundation Women of Legacy Committee felt that Sharon and Amy both had impactful community contributions and were equally deserving of the award.”
A tough 'ACT' to followTwo Women of Legacy Awards will be presented Saturday night to women who refused to give up on projects that greatly enhanced the lives of those who might be experiencing their life's lowest ebb.Amy Hammonds of Butler Township is being honored for her tireless work in avoiding the discontinuation of the Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACT Team) since the Irene Stacy Community Mental Health Center closed in 2015.Hammonds said the ACT Team provides vital services for patients with serious and persistent mental health issues.She is quick to brush off total credit for saving the program, which sees 10 employees taking patients to dental, medical and psychiatry appointments, among other tasks.“As a group, we wanted to make sure it stayed, so we decided to go after it and we got it through the Medicaid services,” Hammonds said.She said ACT Team transportation to medical, dental and psychiatric appointments means patients will be healthier in general.“Those patients don't have a lot of services right now,” Hammonds said.Hammonds is thrilled to receive the Women of Legacy Award, but shares it with everyone she supervises as director of behavioral health at Butler Memorial Hospital.“It's such an honor and privilege,” Hammonds said. “Truly, I was so surprised. It's very humbling.”Hammonds is married to Phillip Hammonds. The couple have two grown children and their spouses — Ian and Jennifer Hammonds and Kaitlyn and Patrick McIntyre — along with three grandchildren, Guerin and Gunnar Hammonds and Violet McIntyre.
<b>Hanging tough for chemo patients</b>Also being honored Saturday night will be Sharon Schneider for her dedication and inspiration to Hang Tough: Stockings Stuffed with Love and Care program.Schneider founded the program in 2016 after participating in a similar program in 2014. She began volunteering for a project to distribute stuffed Christmas stockings to local patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments.In 2016, Schneider took over the program and expanded it to provide stuffed Christmas stockings to every cancer patient in Butler County.Initially, 250 stockings were delivered to county cancer patients. The items inside the stockings were collected at two local businesses. This past Christmas, 20 local organizations served as collection sites in Butler County with four more in Mercer County.“These personal moments with the patients are so special and what inspires me to continue giving back,” said Schneider, who volunteers with a number of other local charities. Schneider's goal was to double the number of stockings distributed annually. Today, that number tops 2,000.Schneider delivers many of the stockings in her Mrs. Claus costume, which she wears in the sleigh beside the big guy each year at Butler's Spirit of Christmas Parade.“Sharon has sat with patients in her red cape, holding hands, sharing stories and celebrating life, sprinkling a little magic wherever she goes,” the BHS Foundation said in a statement about Schneider, adding how she also visits cancer patients at home.About 2,300 stuffed stockings were distributed in 2019 to patients in 19 facilities.“There's a divine intervention and a higher being guiding me to be where I am, so the stockings end up in the right hands,” Schneider said.<b>All for an amazing cause</b>Saturday night's Crystal Ball is the 19th consecutive ball, which is one of the foundation's largest annual fundraisers.Bowser said the Caring Angel program has grown to raise a similar amount in recent years.She said the Crystal Ball raises between $140,000 and $150,000 for the foundation each year and the money will go toward the purchase of the new ultrasound unit for the Crossroads Campus.Reginella said 70 percent of breast cancers occur in dense breasts, and 40 percent to 50 percent of all women over age 40 have dense breasts.“Dense breasts are the number one reason for missing cancers at mammography,” Reginella said. “That's why this (unit) is so important.”She explained that the unit will be used on women whose breasts are made up of more than 50 percent glandular tissue, which causes breast density.She said glandular tissue on a mammogram appears white, as does cancer. On the new ultrasound machine, cancers appear black and glandular tissue white.The images taken by the new ultrasound can be manipulated and studied from different angles by radiologists, Reginella said.Other images will also be used in conjunction with the new machine to determine the health of a patient's breasts.Reginella said screening mammograms detect about seven cancers per 1,000 women screened.Adding automated breast ultrasound detects three to five more cancers per 1,000 women.“It's gotten to that point where we are very fortunate in the Butler community that the Butler Health System administration feels strongly about providing the best equipment,” Reginella said.She stressed the automated breast ultrasound will not replace mammograms.“Mammography is still the best way to detect breast cancer in all women,” she said.The new ultrasound unit, which costs more than $200,000, is installed, and training for staff should begin at the end of the month, Reginella said.The Crystal Ball in recent years has helped to fund three other pieces of vital equipment for the BHS Women's Imaging Center.
