Claxton-Hepburn

One Family's LEGACY OF GENEROSITY In 1943, when Richard Winter was given the choice of opening a Pepsi-Cola franchise in Ogdensburg or in Alabama, he chose the town closest to his family in Buffalo. Over the next decades, Winter built a tradition of community fellowship. WINTER WAS INVOLVED in the Boys & Girls Club, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the Kiwanis Club, and numerous other organizations. After supporting his wife, Malaky, through her cancer treatments in Ontario, Winter wanted to ensure St. Lawrence County residents would never have to make the same journey for care. To this end, he made a generous donation to Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, which funded the Richard E. Winter Cancer Center. "My father wanted to build a place where people could be cared for by their neighbors," says Bonnie Wright, president and CEO of Pepsi-Cola Ogdensburg. "Because of everything the community did for him, he instilled in our family the sense of giving back." Before he passed away in 2004, Winter developed a rare form of lung cancer and was treated at Claxton-Hepburn during the Cancer Center's second phase of construction. Wright, who—with her children—has continued the legacy of giving back, still has the hard hat her father wore on a tour of the facility he helped make possible. "Winter transformed our hospital into a true medical center with his gift to create a first-class cancer treatment clinic," says Reverend Thomas Patterson, chair of the Claxton- Hepburn Medical Center Foundation Board. His giving of his money and himself [Winter also became a dedicated volunteer at the clinic] is an incredible inspiration to us all." Richard Winter with his daughter, Bonnie Wright Your Nurse through Oncology After surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments can be the most challenging parts in the fi ght against cancer, but at the Richard E. Winter Cancer Center, oncology-certifi ed nurses make the experience easier. Left to right: Alka Srivastava, MD; Robin Moore, RN; Lucille Alston, MD; Nancy Thompson, RN; and Jeanne Raven, RN AT CLAXTON-HEPBURN MEDICAL CENTER, we utilize a team approach to cancer care, and our oncology-certified nurses play a critical role in the treatment process. These nurses comprise the medical support staff who administer the infusion of targeted anti-cancer chemotherapies and evaluate patients receiving radiation therapy. They also offer emotional, physical, and educational support to patients and their families. Our nurses are the smiles, laughter, and encouragement that enhance the healing process and set the Richard E. Winter Cancer Center apart from other facilities. According to the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS), there are more than 31,000 oncology-certified nurses in the United States. Nurses renew their certifications every four years by completing an exam created by the ONS and the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation. Both organizations define a nurse's expertise as "the application of knowledge and the interpersonal, decision-making, and psychomotor skills expected for the practice" of medicine. For more information about medical and radiation oncology, visit www.claxtonhepburn.org, highlight "Our Services," and click on "Cancer Care."

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