From OHC

August 12, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joanie Manzo
Director, Marketing & Physician Services
513-751-2145 x10143
joan.manzo@usoncology.com

In Lake County, Florida sits a community clubhouse where the Little Lake Harris Quilters gather for their Monday morning meetings. The group’s members are snowbirds who are skilled in both quilting and embroidery, often raffling off their masterpieces and raising thousands of dollars for various causes. OHC is soon to be a beneficiary of the Quilters’ kindness.

So, how does a cancer practice in the Cincinnati, Ohio region end up on the receiving end of a grand gesture from a quilting group in Florida? Let us introduce you to Mary Small and her compassionate family. Mary, who resides in Florence, Kentucky, spends the winters in Little Lake Harris, Florida, and does embroidery as Vice President of the Quilters. A mother of two, grandmother of four, and soon-to-be great grandmother of four, Mary learned how to embroider as a child from her grandmother. Beautiful quilts adorn the walls of her home as well as those of her children. Mary and her fellow Quilters have lost 11 members of the group to cancer. Many were residents of Boone County, Kentucky.

Mary’s son, Robert, makes repairs at area hospitals and noticed OHC’s office location in the medical building on campus at Mercy Health-West Hospital. After learning about OHC’s work and mission, he shared this information with his family. His sister, Debbie Tripp, had collected several cancer awareness-themed neckties from a series that Kroger had been selling throughout northern Kentucky. She thought the quilters could use the tie fabric to create a quilt.

Sure enough, Joyce Penrod, Secretary of the Quilters, ripped open each tie, laid them flat, and got to work on hand-quilting a queen-sized work of art. She completed the quilt in six months and agreed that it would make an excellent fundraising raffle item to benefit cancer patients.

“We typically sell raffle tickets for one of our quilts every month and raise $500 for each quilt,” said Mary. “It can take a year to make one quilt.”

Tickets for the cancer awareness quilt benefitting OHC patients will be sold for $1 each at the SamJam Bluegrass Festival at the Pike County Fairgrounds in Piketon, Ohio which takes place September 1-5. The drawing will occur on the last day of the festival. Rita Small, Robert’s wife, is the Festival’s announcer and has her own country music radio show. She will promote ticket sales throughout the event.

OHC financial navigators will use proceeds from the quilt raffle to assist patients experiencing hardship. Patients at all OHC locations, Blue Ash, Clifton, Kenwood, Fairfield, Hamilton, Green Township, and Eastgate, are blessed to be beneficiaries of many wonderful supporters like Mary and the Little Lake Harris Quilters.

To discover more about OHC’s cancer experts or to request a second opinion, visit ohcare.com or call 1-888-649-4800.

OHC (Oncology Hematology Care) has been fighting cancer on the front lines for more than 35 years. We are the region’s leading experts in the treatment of nearly every form of adult cancer and complex blood disorder. OHC offers the latest medical, gynecologic and radiation therapy, and is always seeking better treatment options through its nationally recognized cancer research and clinical trials program. OHC is the first – and most experienced – independent adult cancer practice to offer the ground-breaking CAR-T therapy for adults. OHC is certified by the American Society for Clinical Oncology in the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative Certification Program and is one of only a select few cancer practices nationally to be accepted to participate in the Oncology Care Model, part of The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation. At its heart, our approach to cancer care is simple – to surround you with everything you need so you can focus on what matters most: beating cancer. For more information about OHC, or a second opinion, call 1-888-649-4800 or visit ohcare.com.