Relay for Life An Emotional, Uplifting Event

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BY ANNA WILSON
BLUE RIDGE HEALTHCARE

FOR THE NEWS HERALD

MORGANTON - For many participants in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, the event is a chance to swap stories of survival, of loss, of courage and of hope. It’s also a chance to raise money to help those who face cancer and to fund research so that cancer may one day be eliminated.

The event starts at 6 p.m. Friday and ends at 10 a.m. Saturday at Freedom High School in Morganton and the Old Rock School in Valdese.

After the opening ceremony at 6 p.m., cancer survivors will kick off the event with the first lap. After that, team members take turns walking or running laps. Each team keeps at least one team member on the track at all times.

Around 9 p.m., survivors, patients, and those who have lost their battle with cancer will be honored during the luminaria ceremony. Luminaries with the honored persons’ names on them are placed around the track and lit at dusk. These luminaries stay lit all night and literally, as well as symbolically, light the way for walkers through the darkness.

Blue Ridge HealthCare is a major sponsor of the Relay for Life and has a 20-member team taking part.

One team member, Ginger Snipes, Payroll Coordinator for the healthcare system, says it means a lot to her that her employer is so involved.

“I am a two-year breast cancer survivor,” Snipes said. “I received so much love, prayers and support from everyone here. I’m fortunate to have such a supportive employer.”

Snipes had been a long-time participant in the Relay for Life never dreaming she would one day make the Cancer Survivors Lap. “I just wanted to participate in a worthwhile cause,” she said. “Then I was diagnosed with breast cancer and it became much more meaningful for me.”

Snipes received daily radiation treatments for three months from Greg Jones, MD, and the staff at the Cancer Care Center at Grace. “They say there are angels among us and I know where they are,” Snipes said. “The staff was wonderful. The treated me with respect and worked around my schedule. They came in early so I could be at work by 8 a.m. They made me so comfortable and answered all my questions. I received the highest level of care.”

Radiation Therapy has since consolidated its services to Valdese Hospital, which became in 1971 the first private hospital in North Carolina to gain approval for its cancer program from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons. Medical Oncology is offered at both Grace and Valdese with triple board certified physician, Carolyn Mook, MD, and Christopher McDonald, MD, a hematologist/oncologist.

Snipes is cancer free now and she says the first lap for survivors is an emotional time. “Last year I cried the whole way,” she said. “It means a lot knowing people are there for you and knowing you have love and support.”

Team member Barbara Taranto, System Director of Case Management for Blue Ridge, feels the same way. “It’s such an emotional time,” she said of the Survivors Lap.

Taranto was diagnosed with kidney cancer three years ago. “I was very fortunate that the tumor was completely encapsulated, and it hadn’t spread,” she said.

She was symptom free except for blood in her urine. “I thought I had a urinary tract infection,” she said. But tests revealed no sign of infection and Taranto had a scan, which revealed the tumor.

“They removed the kidney and I didn’t have to have chemotherapy or radiation,” she said. “I was very fortunate.”

At the time of her cancer, Taranto said no one else in her family had cancer, but since then her grandmother has died of colon cancer and her father of lung cancer. She participates to remember them and to support others who face the disease.

And there are many others.

In North Carolina alone, almost 40,000 new cases of cancer were diagnosed last year and more than 16,000 will die of cancer, according to the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry. In Burke County, 351 people were diagnosed and/or received treatment for cancer at BRHC.

The American Cancer Society is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. “To do this, the American Cancer Society has set challenge goals to be achieved by 2015,” said Jack Shipkoski, Chief Executive Officer, American Cancer Society, Southeast Division. “These goals are to reduce cancer mortality by 50 percent, to reduce cancer incidence by 25 percent, and to improve the quality of life for all cancer survivors.”

for information about cancer care services at Blue Ridge HealthCare, call the Grace office at 580-6700 or the Valdese office at 89-7356.

Construction Project Reaches the Pinnacle

Click here to view this story as it appeared in the Morganton News Herald (Includes additional graphics and information) in pdf format.

BY ANNA WILSON
BLUE RIDGE HEALTHCARE

FOR THE NEWS HERALD

VALDESE - Robins & Morton Construction, contractor for the building projects at Grace and Valdese Hospitals held “topping out” ceremonies at each facility on April 24.

The “topping out” is when the uppermost beam is put into place, meaning the structure under construction has reached its highest point.

The steel beam is decorated with the signatures of employees and construction workers as well as an American flag and a small evergreen tree.

“The ancient custom was supposed to drive out evil spirits assuring good fortune for those who were to occupy the building,” said Kirk Maynor, Robins & Morton Senior Superintendent, who conducted the ceremony at Grace. “And we know you guys can’t wait to occupy the new building.”

The tree represents the life and growth of the new building. Maynor said the ceremony at Grace was a little different because the beam was not being placed at the uppermost point. “With this project we had to start at the top,” he said. “So what we elected to do was put the top out beam in the main entrance of structure that connects the parking deck to building right next to where a flag pole will be on a permanent basis.”

After Maynor gave the signal, Robins & Morton employees along with Blue Ridge HealthCare employees, administration, board members and visitors watched as the 900-pound, 18-foot white beam was carefully hoisted into place. The American flag and evergreen tree stood in contrast to the blue sky.

Daniel White, Robins & Morton Project Superintendent at Valdese, conducted the ceremony there.

“The men and the women here with the tools on are the ones who really put the pieces in place,” White said. “My hat’s off to you all. Thank you very much.”

While others join the celebration of “topping out,” it is the ironworkers and their skills that make them first to reach the pinnacle of a structure, and it is around this group of workers that topping out revolves. The construction on both campuses is part of the $100 million Campus Redevelopment Plan to raise the standard of care. The projects involve nearly 100,000 square feet of new construction.

ANNA WILSON is a media writer/graphic artist in the Marketing and Public Relations Department at Blue Ridge HealthCare.

The second largest employer in Burke County, Blue Ridge HealthCare serves a four-county area and includes Grace and Valdese hospitals, Blue Ridge Home HealthCare, Grace Heights and College Pines Health & Rehabilitation Centers, Grace Ridge Retirement Community, Phifer Wellness Center and a number of physician practices.