Mady Schuman, Cathy Tweedy, Ann Ciardullo, Julie Ratner (Co-Founder and Chair), Geoff Lynch (Pres. Hampton Jitney), Amanda Frazer (Lisa Tamburini)
The Seasun highlights Julie Ratner this month in honor of her sister Ellen Hermanson. Julie and her older sister Emily Levin created the Ellen Hermanson Foundation in Ellen’s honor.
I understand that the Ellen Hermanson Foundation is going to celebrate its 30th year anniversary. Is there anything special that you would like to highlight or accomplish for this milestone?
Yes. I would like to highlight all that The Ellen Hermanson Foundation has accomplished since 1996 filling a gap in breast health care by making strategic grants to Southampton Hospital enabling the hospital to focus on breast health in a holistic way within the radiology department. With the support of the Foundation this department expanded its capabilities to include a breast biopsy chair, stereotactic breast biopsy, computer aided detection and more. In December 2008, Robert Chaloner, the CAO of Southampton Hospital approached the Foundation with a proposal to fund a new, self-contained Breast Center within the Hospital. This new breast center would be named for my sister, Ellen. The Foundation agreed and in August 2009, The Ellen Hermanson Breast Center opened its doors to all women on the East End with a full-time board certified breast surgeon as the medical director, a full time patient navigator and outreach coordinator and the promise that no women would be turned away from the Center because she lacked medical insurance.
I see that you have created a collaboration with the Hampton Jitney and Geoff Lynch. Could you tell us about that?
We are thrilled by this extraordinary gift from Geoff Lynch and the Hampton Jitney. We all know how kind and supportive Geoff and the Hampton Jitney have been to cancer patients by providing bus tickets for travel back and forth to New York for treatment. Geoff has bestowed that same generosity on the Foundation by “wrapping” an Ambassador coach that travels the LIE between the Hamptons and New York for the month of October. We are the grateful recipients of this gift that was facilitated by Amanda Frazer, a member of our board. Amanda shared with Geoff the work the foundation does and its impact on the local community. Wanting to help the Foundation reach more people, Geoff gave us the gift of a lifetime.
Amanda Frazer, Ann Ciardullo, Cathy Tweedy, Julie Ratner (Lisa Tamburini)
What other community partnerships are you focusing on?
During COVID, as we all know, our normal lives stopped. With more time for reflection, we looked at our mission statement – to ensure access to state-of-the-art quality breast care and empower people affected by cancer – and asked ourselves if we were doing enough to live up to it. We came to the conclusion that we could do more to reach medically at-risk women and women who have limited access to breast healthcare. In our diverse community, we identified four groups of women for whom access to breast health care can be a challenge and created The Ellen Hermanson Community Partnership with The Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center, OLA of Eastern Long Island, The Retreat – All Against Abuse, and The Shinnecock Indian Health Services.
