Swim Across America Raises More than $220,000

Release Date: 09/18/2018

More than 650 swimmers of all ages and skill levels participated in the ninth annual Swim Across America fundraising swim at Roger Wheeler State Beach in Narragansett this month, raising more than $220,000 to support research in Women & Infants Hospital’s Center for Biomarkers and Emerging Technologies (CBET), an initiative of the Program in Women’s Oncology, and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Rick Majzun, president and chief operating officer of Women & Infants, a Care New England hospital, said at the event, “I am the grandson, brother, and nephew of women who have fought cancer. In fact, the team of researchers right here at Women & Infants were part of the team that discovered a biomarker for ovarian cancer that helped save my sister’s life. Standing there this weekend, with two of my daughters by my side, was emotional and inspiring. I am so very thankful for the clinicians, researchers, and staff in our Program in Women’s Oncology for all they do.”

The swim is organized by Swim Across America, a national organization dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention, and treatment.

College swim teams from across the region – including Providence College, University of Connecticut, Bryant University, Brown University, Roger Williams University, University of Rhode Island, Assumption College, Boston University, Northeastern, Connecticut College, and Holy Cross – attended, creating one of the largest groups of college athletes in an open-water swim in the country. Providence College was the top fundraising school, raising more than $30,000.

Swimmers included cancer survivors, patients and family members, physicians and staff from the Program in Women’s Oncology, the Rhode Island Masters Swimmers, high school and club teams, and Olympians.

John O’Neill, the Providence College swim coach who has helped to grow Swim Across America Rhode Island into one of the largest swims across the nation, asked the crowd to close their eyes and think of one word – cancer. What is the picture that comes to your mind? That, he told the swimmers, is what you should think about if someone tells you that you cannot make a difference. That, he said, is all the motivation he needs.

Sponsors of the event were Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, Jersey Mike’s Subs, and Dave’s Marketplace; national partners were Merck, SwimOutlet, Health I.Q., the National Coalition of Associations of 7-Eleven Franchises, and Captivate.

 

About Women & Infants Hospital 

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. A major teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women’s medicine, Women & Infants is the 9th largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country and the largest in New England with approximately 8,500 deliveries per year. A Designated Baby-Friendly® USA hospital, U.S.News & World Report 2014-15 Best Children’s Hospital in Neonatology and a 2014 Leapfrog Top Hospital, in 2009 Women & Infants opened what was at the time the country’s largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.

Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation’s first mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation’s only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.

Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiography; a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Gynecologic Oncology Group and the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.