A record number of 88 members and guests of the Chester River Yacht & Country Club organized and participated in the 14th annual Pink Polar Bear Golf Tournament on Sunday, August 25. The event raised $15,550 – the largest amount in the tournament’s history – to fund the purchase of equipment that will allow a state-of-the-art diagnostic procedure, a breast MRI, to be performed at University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Chestertown. This amount brings the tournament’s total contribution to the Eleanor & Ethel Leh Women’s Center to $46,850.
“The Chester River Health Foundation is grateful beyond words because the Leh Women’s Center is such an important health care resource for women in our community,” said Maryann Ruehrmund, Executive Director of the Chester River Health Foundation and Chief Development Officer. “I hope participants and sponsors will take great pride in knowing that the proceeds from this year’s event, combined with the tournament proceeds from last year, will fully fund the purchase of a special piece of equipment needed for MRI studies of the breast. On behalf of the Foundation board, it’s my pleasure to once again thank Chester River Yacht & Country Club members Katina Lee, Susan Berson, Kathleen Flanagan and Larry Orr, along with the Club’s Pro Shop staff, for taking this year’s event to the next level of participation and fundraising.”
According to Chris Levey, MD, Medical Director, University of Maryland Shore Medical Group – Radiology, “Supporting breast health diagnosis with an MRI exam is an excellent initiative for Chestertown. Currently, we conduct about 50 exams per month, including biopsies. About one-third are for screening patients who are high-risk for breast cancer, one third are problem-solving based on patients’ prior mammography and ultrasound results, and one third are for cancer patients, including some who are undergoing chemotherapy prior to surgery.”
The tournament is named the Pink Polar Bear tournament because Kelly Bottomley, Manager of Outpatient Radiology Services for UM SRH, said that “finding breast cancer can be a little like finding a polar bear in a snowstorm.”
“Our tomosynthesis mammography technology makes it possible to detect breast cancer at the earliest possible stage,” said Bottomley. “Expanding our diagnostic breast services to include MRI technology will expand our breast cancer diagnostic services and enable patients from Kent and northern Queen Anne’s counties to get this important care close to home.”
The Leh Women’s Center will begin offering breast MRI studies in December 2025 when a new MRI machine is installed.