“The Girls” Night Out Highlights After-Cancer Reconstruction Options

St. Luke’s Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery hosted a fun-filled evening with live music and a wine tasting at the Allentown Brew Works, 812 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, on Oct. 26, National Breast Reconstruction Awareness (BRA) Day. A fundraising event, “The Girls” Night Out raised over $6,000 for the St. Luke’s Cancer Center.

“We welcomed the opportunity to sponsor this event in honor of our patients who have had breast reconstruction after mastectomy or lumpectomy,” said St. Luke’s Plastic Surgeon W. Michael Morrissey, MD. “Many women consider breast reconstruction to be an important part of their healing process, and as physicians, we feel privileged to help restore what cancer took away.”

Juan Carlos Martinez, MD, W. Michael Morrissey, Jr., MD, and Lino Miele, MD, of St. Luke’s Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery (SLP&RS), join breast cancer survivors and SLP&RS staff members in celebrating Breast Reconstruction Awareness (BRA) Day.

The band “Rotten Apples” entertained approximately 242 guests with live music and Boos Rocks provided a complimentary wine tasting. Guests selected Donna Jaworski winner of the creative bra decorating contest and patient Michelle Miller’s two friends in pink tu-tus winners of the creative pink outfit contest.

St. Luke’s Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery offers several breast reconstructive surgery options, ranging from saline and silicone implants to leading edge microsurgery options. Among these is DIEP (deep inferior epigastric artery perforator), which uses tissue from the patient’s abdomen to rebuild the breast. For more information about breast reconstruction after mastectomy or lumpectomy, or to schedule a consultation, contact St. Luke’s Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at 484-426-1260.

About BRA Day

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and The Plastic Surgery Foundation (The PSF) lead the Breast Reconstruction Awareness USA Campaign to build awareness around breast reconstruction options after mastectomy and lumpectomy. Their goal of the event is to share the message that:

• All women who are candidates for breast reconstruction should be made aware of the options available to them.
• All women who are candidates for breast reconstruction should be offered treatment in a safe and timely manner.
• Federal law mandates coverage of breast reconstruction for all breast cancer patients, even if such reconstruction is delayed until after other treatments.

Media Contact:

Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network providing services at seven hospitals and more than 270 outpatient sites in the greater Lehigh Valley. The network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus. Dedicated to advancing health education, St. Luke’s operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing and 23 graduate medical educational programs and is considered a major teaching hospital – the only one in its region. Repeatedly, including 2017, St. Luke’s earned Truven’s 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital and 50 Top Cardiovascular Program designations, in addition to other honors for clinical excellence. St. Luke’s is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as electronic medical records, telehealth, online scheduling and pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.