Community Collaboration

Well Woman Conference Draws 800

Local motorists running errands or picking up donuts and coffee around 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25 wondered out loud why the parking lot for the strip mall on Butterfield Road just west of Route 53 in Glen Ellyn was so crowded. The stores weren’t even open yet.

Parking availability turned out to be the only minor inconvenience for some 800 women, ranging in age from late teens to early 80s, who attended the Well Woman Conference that day. They heard from experts on breast and cervical cancer, heart disease incidence in women, osteoporosis, and the mind/body connection. Nearly 50 exhibitors provided information on everything from prostheses for survivors of breast cancer to the newest spray vitamin. Healthcare and human service agencies were among the exhibitors, providing information on services.

“We wanted women to leave the conference not only with information, but with a clear sense of empowerment,” said Ruth Todd, Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Coordinator for the Health Department. Todd is chair of the Well Woman Coalition of DuPage, sponsor of the event. “We want to help women be their own best health advocates.”

In a prime example of successful public/private collaboration, the Health Department spearheaded the event with the help and support of the six DuPage hospitals: Central DuPage, Edward, Elmhurst Memorial, GlenOaks, Good Samaritan Advocate and Hinsdale.

The Health Department and the hospitals are part of the Well Woman Coalition of DuPage, a public/private partnership of some 30 healthcare providers.

Special Guests

Miss America Kate Shindle Reinforces HIV Prevention Message

The message from the winners of the 6th annual World AIDS Day essay contest sponsored by the AIDS Program was loud and clear. “Life is too sweet to waste on one night,” said first place county winner Elizabeth Kirby. Essays written by the other three top county winners and the 10 school winners demonstrated similar messages: each of us must be responsible for our own actions and be compassionate to people living with HIV disease.

On Nov. 25, 1997, the Health Department AIDS Program joined forces with a very special guest to honor the winners. Miss America 1998 Kate Shindle made a stop in DuPage County as part of the 20,000 miles she logs every month on her national speaking tour on HIV prevention. She was touched by the compassion and sound advice clearly evident in the essays, written by seventh and eighth graders.

“Kate proved to be an outstanding ambassador for the Miss America Organization,” said AIDS Program Manager Bonnie Jane Adelman. “Her ability to communicate with people of all ages, along with her warmth and generosity with her time, made our event even more spectacular. She spent at least 30 minutes after the ceremony signing programs, essays, pictures and posing with audience members for photographs.”

Special Events

Mobile Vans Bring Hope and Help

Christina’s Smile is a 48-foot mobile dental clinic converted from a semitrailer. “Give the Gift of Sight,” the Lenscrafters Foundation Vision Van, is fully-equipped to provide eye examinations and glasses. The front parking lot of the Health Department’s Central Office and West Public Health Center in Wheaton provided a large enough space to park these special vehicles on two separate occasions in 1997.

But no one could measure the amount of help and hope that was given to children during those two special events.

The Health Department’s Dental Services Unit coordinated the three-day June visit of the mobile dental clinic which provided needed dental care to some 120 children from low-income households. Health Department employees helped staff the mobile clinic in addition to recruiting 21 dentists, 18 dental assistants and eight dental hygienists who volunteered their services.

The Health Department’s Vision and Hearing Screening Unit coordinated the two-day September visit of the mobile vision clinic, and co-sponsored the event with Our Children’s Place, a not-for-profit foster care agency. Some 226 children were served during the two days, including DuPage foster children and those living in group homes. Health Department employees who staffed the clinic were assisted by volunteers from the Lenscrafters Foundation, Our Children’s Place, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Naperville Lion’s Club, Delta Gamma Sorority, and Spanish students from Wheaton North and Glenbard South high schools.

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