Fashion show to help fund breast health specialist
A new venue, the latest fall fashions and a plated gourmet luncheon, all added up to a successful 49th annual fashion show to benefit Northwest Community Hospital last week.
About 630 women attended the event Friday, which took place at the newly renovated Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows.
Guests on hand were among the first in the community to see the new banquet facility. Although it opened in May, the hospital event was the first community fundraiser -- and first fashion show -- in the venue.
"It was very exciting to be one of the first groups there," said Anna McKinley, of the Northwest Community Hospital Foundation. "Everyone was very impressed."
The wide-open facility, converted from an indoor tennis complex, lent itself to the event's multidimensional entertainment concept, including its holiday boutique, silent auction, sit-down luncheon and professionally choreographed fashion show.
Zzazz Productions mounted the show, and featured some of Chicago's own world famous designers, including Yana, Maria Pinto, Paul Sisti and Caroline Rose.
"It's really exciting, because Chicago is finally being recognized for its fashion," said producer Tracey Tarantino. "Northwest Community guests are seeing some of the same designers we recently featured in the World Fashion Chicago show for city officials."
But the event made an impact on guests, long after they finished lunch and sat back for the fashion show. Its proceeds benefited something near and dear to almost every woman in attendance: a breast health specialist position at the hospital's Breast Center. Christine Masonic, breast program manager and two specialists, spoke to the crowd and described the impact of the disease on the local community.
They also updated them on the role of the certified nurses who will serve as breast health specialists or "patient navigators," and will walk with breast cancer patients throughout their treatment and recovery.
As it is, more than 300 women are diagnosed and treated for breast cancer each year at Northwest Community Hospital, officials said.