CLEVELAND – Geraldine Blair, a receptionist in the Mather Surgery Waiting Area at University Hospitals and founder of an outreach organization that helps minority women in the fight against breast cancer, received the Shero Award from the Ohio Commission on Minority Health. The Shero Award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to improve the health status of minorities in Ohio.
She received the award March 27 at the Verne Riffe Center in Columbus, Ohio. She was nominated for the award by Nathan A. Berger, M.D., an oncologist in the University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center and director of the Center for Science, Health and Society at Case Western Reserve University. Ms. Blair also will be honored on April 4 at the Minority Health Kickoff Ceremony in the Cleveland City Hall Rotunda at noon.
Ms. Blair was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985, and she transformed her personal battle with the disease into a very public commitment to help others. Her passion for this cause led her to co-found Minority Women with Breast Cancer Uniting, a grassroots support group for African American women with breast cancer. The 150 member group, which celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2007, holds regular support group meetings for its members and is involved heavily in community education. Under Ms. Blair’s leadership, the group’s mission is to spread the word in African American communities about breast cancer and early detection. The volunteer group has won grants to pay for mammograms for women without health insurance, taken University Hospitals' mobile mammography van into medically underserved neighborhoods and convened a groundbreaking meeting at which clergy and physicians were urged to help families learn not to turn away from a member with breast cancer.
Ms. Blair has worked at University Hospitals for 34 years.