Trish Boh: We gathered at the St. Elizabeth Healthcare Cancer Centers to observe National Cancer Survivors Day

Trish Boh, Executive Secretary to Executive Medical Director of Oncology Services and Directors at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, shared on LinkedIn:

“On Monday, June 3rd, we gathered at the St. Elizabeth Healthcare Cancer Centers to observe National Cancer Survivors Day (June 2nd). It’s a day to honor everyone’s courage and perseverance.

This is a special day for our patients, caregivers, and staff that we start planning for about 8 months ahead of time. While it’s a lot of prep, it isn’t an assignment or task that is required for my job.

It is a mission and passion close to my heart that I take very personally. I want every individual we encounter to smile and feel love, hope, encouragement, and resilience, even if just for a few moments.

Every journey matters: the triumphs, sadly the tragedies, and the often deep and wide river that runs between them. Yet our patients show up, our staff shows up, and somehow a little bit of magic happens where indomitable spirits shine even in adversity.

I learned a new term last week, “thriver” versus “survivor”. There is so much empowerment in the word thriver that I never picked up on before. It’s forward-facing. It goes beyond survival and suggests you are flourishing and growing, are actively engaged in life, and have a sense of vitality, resilience, and a positive mindset.

Using positive terminology can be very impactful on your mindset and can be good medicine too. I want to shift the narrative from mere survival to THRIVING! There are so many things we can’t control in our journey, but changing our thinking is absolutely one we can control!

Richard Davidson said, “Resilience is the maintenance of high levels of positive affect and well-being in the face of adversity. It is not that resilient individuals never experience negative effects, but rather that the negative effect does not persist. The goal of resilience is to thrive.”

Empower yourself and your loved ones to prioritize preventative care. Get regular screenings, such as mammograms, pap smears, colonoscopies, melanoma, and lung cancer screenings.

These screenings are crucial to catching cancers at their earliest stages when they’re most treatable. Cancer doesn’t discriminate, so let’s all advocate for affordable screenings and raise awareness to level the playing field for everyone!

Huge thank you’s to Dwinelva Zackery, Maggie Biesinger, Matthew Kurian, Michelle Snell, Amanda Grace, the Registration team, our community partners Cancer Family Care, Cancer Support Community, Kentucky Cancer Program, 80 Acres Farms, Guy Karrick, Dana Hungler, Liz Bonis, Sam Knef, and anyone else I have inadvertently forgotten! The success of our day would not have been possible without the help and collaboration of this team.

Together, let’s envision a world free from cancer where “THRIVER” becomes the new norm, not the exception.”

Source: Trish Boh/LinkedIn