By: Valerie MillerCINCINNATI - Businesses in Butler and Warren counties are taking an active role in raising awareness about breast cancer.
Through employee programs or non-profit start-ups, companies also are launching campaigns to support specific causes.
In Oxford, Luna Blu Salon is doing more than just help women look good on the outside. Their care goes deep. Owner Lisa Ciampa started up Luna Cares just before she turned 40 this year. That was the age of her mother, when she died of brain cancer. Ciampa carried on after her mother's death, but always with the thought that she, too, would die at 40.
So when her birthday was approaching, Ciampa said she asked herself, "What have I done? I have not properly mourned her death. I have not properly done anything to pay respect to her for what she was or how much she did for other women and friends in her life."
So she got together with her salon staff, which already was involved in fundraisers for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and decided on a new cause. They created Luna Cares and devised a plan to help women in the Oxford area by easing their financial burdens as they battled cancer.
"There are people right now that need help, immediately, but what about right now when they're trying to pay their mortgage or their rent or their electric bill," Ciampa said.
While Ciampa worked with salon manager Hillary Byrd and staff member Allyson Cecil to coordinate new fundraisers and special events, she met a woman named Lisa Elliott.
Elliott, a lawyer, just opened a new office in Oxford. She was ready to start her first practice at the age of 29 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Ciampa offered free massages and other services to help Elliott as she went through treatment. Elliott said she was so moved by the care and concern she received, that she wanted to have a part in helping too.
So, Elliott, with her legal training, joined the Luna Cares effort. She helped with the legal aspects of establishing a non-profit. The legal support also helped with the intricacies of working with McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital, in Oxford, to pay off patient medical bills.
"If we can even relieve the burden of $100 for a woman, sometimes that's really huge for some of these women who just don't have the money to pay their medical bill," Elliott said.
This October, Luna Cares paid thousands in medical bills for more than 20 women being treated for cancer.
Both Lisas agree when patients are trying to fight cancer and the side effects of the medical treatment, the last thing they should have to worry about is paying bills. They added that stress and worrying about financial troubles can be a detriment to the healing process.
For more information on Luna Cares on how you can get help or offer to help, please click here .
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In Mason, Cintas is a huge corporation with international connections. Its focus on customer service is equally matched by its concern for its employees, which the company refers to as partners.
In 2010, Cintas implemented a company-wide program to increase awareness about breast cancer and to encourage partners to be involved in an effort to raise money for cancer research. Partners at the corporate office, as well as the distribution centers around the U.S. and in other countries, were encouraged to wear pink on a specific October day.
This year, the program grew even more. In addition to the sea of pink, the company coordinated health services to provide education about breast cancer. There was information about genetic testing for those who felt they might be at risk. The company also arranged for a mobile mammogram bus to park at the Mason location so that employees could sign up for a mammogram.
It was a mammogram done ten years for Cintas partner Judie Beckman that she credits for saving her life. She said the company, even back then, arranged for the mobile van. She said she would not have gotten a mammogram at that time on her own. In fact, just the year prior, she had a mammogram which detected nothing. But on this test, there was a lump. It was cancer and she required extensive treatment and support.
She said one of the biggest benefits of her job was that Cintas made it perfectly clear that her job would be waiting for her when she recovered. Beckman said, "They made it easy for me to take off time. And the support was just wonderful."
Her co-workers supported her with visits, cards, and meals. Beckman recalled that her boss also helped by paying for a prescription for anti-nausea medication that she couldn't afford.
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In Monroe, a company called West Chester Holdings, Inc. launched a new program this year, called Work for Hope.
The company distributes a variety of work gloves. The newest design for the Work for Hope program was a pink work glove for ladies. Company owner and CEO Tim Fogarty, promised to donate at least $100,000 for breast cancer research from the proceeds of those glove sales. Fogarty lost his first
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