Pink Polar Bear Golf Raises Funds over $10,000 For Eleanor & Ethel Leh Women’s Center
Shown are Pink Polar Bear Golf Tournament participants and organizers at the Chester River Yacht & Country Club.
Members of the Chester River Yacht & Country Club organized and participated in the 12th annual Pink Polar Bear Golf Tournament this summer, raising a record $10,200 to benefit patients served at the Eleanor & Ethel Leh Women’s Center at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown.
This year’s event attracted nearly 90 club members and guests. Since 2015, the event has raised over $30,000 to support breast cancer detection at the hospital.
“We call it the Pink Polar Bear tournament because finding breast cancer can be a little like trying to find a polar bear in a blizzard,” said Kelly Bottomley, Manager of Outpatient Radiology Services for University of Maryland Shore Regional Health. “Our tomosynthesis mammography technology takes breast images in ‘slices,’ much like a CT scanner, and makes it possible to detect breast cancer at the earliest possible stage. Expanding our diagnostic breast services here though MRI technology puts our capabilities at best-in-class.”
“We are grateful beyond words,” said Maryann Ruehrmund, Executive Director, UM Chester River Health Foundation. “I hope participants will take great pride in knowing that the tournament’s proceeds will be designated for our upcoming campaign hoping to raise $1.3 million for new MRI equipment, including a special coil needed to perform MRI studies of the breast, which will soon be offered at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown.”
Opened in 2013, the Eleanor & Ethel Leh Women’s Center 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 UM Shore Regional Health.
The Leh Center performs more than 2,800 mammograms each year, offers bone density evaluation services and consultation and follow-up appointments related to breast surgery. Breast surgery, reconstruction and plastic surgery takes place at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown.