Chicago Family Health Center to offer breast cancer support group

October 5, 2007

It has always been the focus of Chicago Family to offer community residents on the far south and southeast side of Chicago the best healthcare resources available. To that end, Chicago Family will be organizing a breast cancer support group, Las Comadres, in collaboration with Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization. The first meeting will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Chicago Family Health Center’s South Chicago site, 9119 S. Exchange Ave.

Chicago Family staff members, including Annie Bobby, a perinatal nurse who is also a breast cancer survivor, recognized that there is a lack of resources for women diagnosed with breast cancer on the southeast side of Chicago. To remedy this, Chicago Family linked up with Y-Me to train facilitators for a breast cancer support group at Chicago Family. To date, two employees, including Bobby, have undergone the training and testing required to become a support group facilitator. Additional staff members will be trained as needed.

Y-Me is a Chicago-based national nonprofit organization with the mission to ensure, through information, empowerment and peer support, that no one faces breast cancer alone, according to the organization’s Web site.

Following the initial meeting on Oct. 11, Las Comadres will meet every second Thursday of the month in Patient Education Room B at the Chicago Family’s South Chicago clinic. The first meeting will be an open discussion to set up for future support group meetings. Each meeting will have a new topic as well as a guest speaker. The November meeting will be an annual planning meeting and the December meeting’s topic will be “Enough Already — Now I Have to Face the Holidays!” with Patricia Penhall, LCSW as the presenter. The meetings are free of charge and reservations are not needed. For more information on the support group, contact Annie Bobby at (773) 768-5000 ext. 1046.