By Bill Wertman, CEO, Big Bend Hospice
One of the things I value most about Big Bend Hospice is the way our people care for one another.
We see that compassion every day in the care our teams provide to patients and families. But it doesn’t stop when a visit ends or when someone walks back through our office doors. It is part of the culture our employees have built with one another.
This October, that spirit will be especially visible as our team comes together in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Our Marketing team has planned a full week of activities designed to bring greater awareness to breast cancer, create opportunities for education, and, most importantly, honor the breast cancer survivors within our own Big Bend Hospice family. And there will certainly be plenty of pink.
Throughout the week, our employees will have opportunities to learn more about breast health and breast cancer, spend time together decorating for our Pink Power celebration, wear pink and denim in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and contribute to our Making Strides Against Breast Cancer team.
But what I’m looking forward to most is the opportunity to recognize our own survivors.
During our Pink Power Day, our team will gather for a parade honoring the breast cancer survivors who work alongside us every day. These are colleagues and friends we know through their roles at Big Bend Hospice, but each carries a story that extends far beyond the work they do here. For me, that is what makes this week meaningful.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an important opportunity to bring attention to a disease that has affected so many individuals and families. It is also an opportunity to recognize the strength of the people around us and remind them that they do not walk through life’s difficult chapters alone. That idea feels particularly important at Big Bend Hospice.
Our employees spend their days caring for other people. They sit beside patients during difficult moments. They answer questions from worried family members. They provide comfort, guidance, expertise, and sometimes simply a reassuring presence when it is needed most.
That work requires a great deal of heart. So when we have an opportunity to turn some of that care toward one another, I believe we should take it.
The activities planned for Breast Cancer Awareness Week will give our employees a chance to step away from their daily routines, learn something that could make a difference in their own lives, laugh with one another, and celebrate colleagues whose strength deserves to be recognized. Some moments will be serious. Others will simply be fun. Both have value.
44 years of serving this community, I’ve learned that an organization is ultimately defined by its people. Programs matter, quality matters, and growth matters. But none of it happens without people who believe in the work and in one another. That’s what makes the Big Bend Hospice team special.
We celebrate each other’s successes. We support each other through challenges. And when someone among us has faced something as life-changing as breast cancer, we make sure they know their story and their strength matter to us.
This October, we’ll wear pink to raise awareness. But we’ll also wear it for the people beside us.
For the survivors on our team. For the loved ones whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. And for every person who understands just how much it means to have a community standing with you when you need it most. That is something worth coming together for.