Public Employee Press

DC 37 walkers fight breast cancer

On a cold, rainy Sunday morning, nothing was more important to hospital worker Alfred Grant than participating in the American Cancer Society’s walkathon in Central Park. The Local 420 grievance rep and his son Julian, 14, walked Oct. 19 to remember friend and co-worker Janet Hinson.

“She was like a sister to me,” he said. “We worked together in the Respiratory Department at North Central Bronx Hospital.” Mr. Grant has walked every year since Ms. Hinson, also a union member, died of breast cancer. “It’s not just that my dad tells me I have to come,” said Julian Grant, “I’ve done it ever since I was a little kid.”

Many DC 37 members were among the 24,000 participants who raised $2 million for cancer research in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.

“I’ve been in a lot of walkathons,” said Local 1070 member Margaret Franklin, a Clerical Associate II in the Dept. of Probation. “My grandmother had breast cancer and I know other people who are survivors. It’s important to me that DC 37 supports the cause.” Ms. Franklin walked with co-workers Wanda Ellison Boone and Daliah Charles.

Sisters Clotina and Sherry Darden are both in Local 372. “We had four aunts that passed away from breast cancer, so we try to come every year,” said Clotina.

Judy Hampton, a Job Opportunity Specialist for the Human Resources Administration and a member of Local 1549, is a breast cancer survivor. “I am walking because I see so many African American people being diagnosed. The incidence of breast cancer is higher in my race,” she pointed out.

DC 37 Health and Nutrition Committee Chair Michele Keller summed up the union’s effort: “We raise funds, embrace our survivors and learn to protect ourselves with early detection.”

Kyle Simmons, the head of Laborers Local 924, participated in the walk. “As the president of a predominantly male local, I know that, in one way or another, this disease does affect my members. It’s important for our mothers, sisters and friends that we walk to show our awareness and to encourage others to participate and to be checked on a regular basis,” he said.

Magda DeJesus is the president of Real Estate Employees Local 1219. As a Latina, she is a member of another group that is disproportionately affected by the disease.

“I had breast cancer 10 years ago,” she said. “I have a younger sister, Maria, who’s a survivor. My Aunt Rosa had breast cancer and didn’t make it. My dream is that — in my lifetime — they find a cure for this horrible disease.”