 Welcome to Independent Lifestyles, sponsored by the Sheboygan County Aging and Disability Resource Center. We present programs that promote independent lifestyles and that direct you to the resources that will help you maintain your health and independence in our community. I'm Christine Jeske and I'm an outreach worker at the Aging and Disability Resource Center and I will be your host today. Today's show is about the pink heels and the patient assistance program of Aurora. I'm excited to have two very special guests, Shelly Nigro, Struvi, and Stephanie Struvi as well. Welcome, ladies. Hi, Chris. Hi. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. How's it going? It's fantastic. How are you? Good, good, good. Good. Good. So Shelly, could you tell us a little bit about pink heels? I just found out this morning that this is a volunteer thing you do. Correct. So this is all on your own time. Yep. We don't get paid for any of it. Pink heels, we are a nonprofit organization in Sheboygan County and we offer emotional and financial support to families dealing with the disease that disrupts the family structure. And our main focus is cancer, all cancers. You kind of, people see the pink fire trucks driving around and think right away breast cancer. No. No cancers for men or women and children. And we promote our presence by the pink fire trucks around town and we do local community events. Currently, there are 66 chapters of pink heels and more than 200 refurbished pink vehicles. So now when you say 66 chapters, you're talking through the United States? Correct, and overseas. And overseas. Correct. Yes. refurbished pink vehicles. What types of vehicles are being refurbished? Fire trucks, police cars, ambulances and motorcycles. Really? Yes. So then do you spray them all pink and stuck? Yes they do. They usually a lot of people donate their time and they'll donate the paint jobs for them which is wonderful. Yep and most of them are retired vehicles. None of the fire trucks actually work anymore but they run on the road but you can't use them to go stuff out fires or anything like that. So they're donated? Correct. They're donated yes and they no longer can use them. And you guys get them? Yes we do. And when you say you no longer use them they no longer can use them is that mean like they're still workable? It's still workable that we can drive them to events if we're in a parade or we do a home visit or we do a school visit but you're not going to see them at an act of fire or at a police call or anything like that. And how many of those vehicles do you have? You have roughly about 200 total. In our community? No not in our community no across the United States. Through the 66 chapters? Correct. Okay. We currently in Sheboygan we have one pink fire truck. Neat. And how many pink heels are in the state? The state we have three of them. Manitowoc, Lake County and then Sheboygan County. Neat. Yeah. And how does pink heels impact families in our community? We make social visits to brighten spirits and we fundraise to help those dealing with the financial distress. Pink heels focuses on returning all funds raised in the community back to the community that raised it. You know we make home visits, we visit schools, we go to workplaces, we visit people and just show our love and support. So when you say you show your love and support for these families this doesn't necessarily mean you're coming and bringing them a check or you're coming to give them something. You could just let them know that you're available and I understand when you and I spoke you talked about a team of people that comes in this refurbished pink fire truck. Could you give us a little scenario about that? We just did a school visit and these two children at a school we come um firehouse number one brought their fire truck they led us in we had the pink fire truck behind and we went into the school parking lot and all the kids were out there and we all line up and we show our love and support by giving the child or the adult a big hug and three little words I love you. We give the kids a nice teddy bear we give the family a carnation or pink rose in a vase we also give them our paperwork to let them know how they can get a financial request but it's all about showing our love and support that we're there for them. Three little words and a hug I love you. It means it goes so far. I don't think we do enough of that nowadays. Well we don't and we need more of it. Yes we do, yes we do. And the response from the families when you come? Oh my gosh tears flowing everyone everyone's got the crying you know it doesn't take much for me to cry I'm crying in the fire truck as we're getting there for Pete's sakes but it's just it's just showing that that someone out there else cares that we are there for them whatever they need we are there. So having them come having you go there you let them know and then at some point can they call you? Absolutely. So you want them to know that we're here to support you. Right and that's in our paperwork that we hand out um it's got our phone numbers on it how they can get financial support how they can um get some bills paid if they need it we also give our pamphlets out and let them know we have email we have um Facebook. Okay and how do you raise money to help support your mission? By selling our pink heels merchandise such as t-shirts sweatshirts cankuzis water bottles and other various items in the community promoting our organization. So now you spoke to us about you promote on Facebook? Correct email we have a website but the biggest um promoter is word of mouth. Isn't that amazing? Yes how people have seen us or they look at us I went I wear my t-shirt um at school sometimes you're like you're the lady with the pink fire truck right I said yes I am and then I want to know more about it you know so they equate that I remember you yeah yeah that would be me. So our Facebook page is wonderful if people would like to go on our Facebook page like us and they'll really see what we do the visits that we do the home visits the school visits and then go on the national page it would be pink heels national tour and you'll see them touring the United States and talking about the love and support and what we actually do and the home visits the school visits visiting people at their workplace and just seeing all the firefighters and the volunteers walking in giving that person a big hug and three words I love you it's just amazing and I can imagine sometimes that's very overwhelming for people because a lot of people don't show emotion I mean it's easy for me to hug anybody correct you know and tell everybody you know tell my friends I love them or but a lot of people are real kind of standoffish and how does that affect I mean by the time you're done with them do you think they're more comfortable absolutely I think they really see that we are genuine and that we mean that you know when they see us all lined up and they're in their pink turnout gear and then we have the firefighters from the stations or EMS and they're standing in line and it touches them to to really see it's like wow look at the impact you made on that person and that person when you're coming down the street and those fire engine lights are are going and the horns are going and you're beeping it's just amazing here I get chills yep very rewarding it's very rewarding yeah and um Stephanie can you tell us a little about a little bit about your role yes um again my name is Stephanie and thanks for having me on today chris I am actually a social worker with Aurora healthcare um I've worked as a social worker for about the last 15 years all with Aurora specifically the last 12 years I've worked in a department called patient assistants very interesting and um I got to be part of a patient assistant program when I got to they wanted me to come into their family and see how it all went and I was actually so impressed on how that was all handled so with that said can you tell us a little bit more about that patient assistant sure patient assistance is really just a small department within Aurora it's made up of myself and a registered nurse Sue Fryer and what we try to do is work with Aurora patients to navigate their community resources to help them address concerns they may be having a lot of times we're working with patients who are struggling with chronicle medical conditions or experiencing acute distress and the team of people like when they meet for the first time you have a doctor there you have a social worker there can you tell us more so that that can be part of our family conference program that's offered through the Vince Lombardi clinic we often identify patients who may be struggling with their cancer diagnosis or could benefit from a team approach to help them meet their needs so frequently our family conferences consist of our medical oncologist a registered nurse navigator and then myself oftentimes they'll pull in an occupational therapist too to help address home safety or management concerns now you've been with Aurora for 15 years yes 15 years so you've seen a lot I haven't I've met a lot of great patients and families it's always interesting to sit down and hear people's stories their concerns their fears you know I learned right along with them I can never fully understand what they're going through until you're in that situation but certainly trying to help them access even the smallest bit of assistance it warms your heart I think the team approach is awesome when you meet with everybody and their family because I think that that gives that daughter or spouse permission to say this is what's bothering me how can we how can we help I mean that has to be very beneficial for everybody am I correct oh absolutely and it it helps to increase the lines of communication between the health care team with the family and even among the family themselves because the patient may be experiencing something that they didn't feel comfortable talking about with their family and that provides the opportunity in a safe space to discuss their concerns so what do you navigate the people the family's with so can you tell us a little bit about the navigation part of it well what we try to do is sit down and complete a thorough assessment with each patient and we want to know about their health conditions how they're coping with those conditions if they're experiencing financial or practical concerns and what we try to do then is identify what's available right here in our community that can help them address those concerns and alleviate the distress that they might be having you know oftentimes again it it introduces meet and new services that have come about in the community and that I wasn't even aware of and of course helps me network with people from all different types of agencies right right and you two have an interesting history together right oh we have interesting history not only are you you work together in the community you're also related correct we are we are cousin-in-laws actually yes so that was pretty instrumental that personal relationship was pretty instrumental and educating me about pink heels when it started in sheboygan county I think it was a couple years ago already two and a half next I became involved with pink heels after my husband passed of cancer but two and a half years ago then I found out about the organization and my husband's name is on the is on the truck it bears his name that's the first time I found out about that that the county had this program going on to help people with with financial support and emotional support and then with Stephanie's role it kind of went hand in hand and she's like oh dealing with with patients from Aurora and it just evolved from there well and it helps that you guys know each other you ladies know each other it does it probably made me more aware of pink heels much sooner than I might have otherwise stumbled upon it by myself you know certainly you try to keep your educate yourself educated about what is available in our community but because of the personal our side relationship becoming aware of it much sooner certainly helped to educate me and pass that on to the Aurora patients that we work with so it's a win-win so if you are stuck at something you can then call Shelly and if Shelly needs something she can then call you that's correct and if Chris Jesky needs something she can then call you guys yes and that's we all work together that's really that's the best part of the the job is trying to educate individuals about the different services that are that are available to them and it it connects us with people from the Sheboygan County Health and Human Services aging and disability resource center you know outside agencies like pink heels and there's so many people still don't know about you know about us and we are fairly new it's been around for 10 years Dave Grebel started it in Arizona he's a retired firefighter and he started this program and our president of the chapter Tara Albright wanted to make a difference and her husband is John is a firefighter for Sheboygan Falls fire department and she heard about that about this organization and wanted to bring it here and Manitowoc had theirs already started so she wanted to start a chapter in Sheboygan County and then they had to go about trying to find a fire truck in um Highland Illinois was was um retiring a fire truck so that's how we got our fire truck someone donated the paint job so it all kind of evolved around and and that was it I never heard about it and I never heard about pink heels either and then some of it they were on facebook and they were trying to name the truck so Ty had already passed my husband had already passed and everyone all his friends were let's let's name the truck Ty so they were putting his name in other people were putting in this other lady's name Dawn in and all of a sudden they came back and said we're going to name it Dawn Ty wonderful so the pink heels got a hold of me and said we'd like you to like a christen the truck write his name on there and um so I had to you know investigate a little bit more about this and find out more about and all the truck and this organization and basically if they figured okay she's going to come sign his name be done never come back again I fooled them but did you plan that probably not no I just I know I didn't know I think about the more I found out about like wow and they had just started about a year before that and they had just gotten their truck when they named it and um so it was just it was just kind of neat and I thought well maybe I'd better stick around for a while and I became a volunteer and I became the treasurer of it so so you work with families that struggle correct Stephanie you do too right you have people that can't afford their medications or can't afford gas in their car right sometimes it seems like the insignificant things or maybe things you wouldn't think of how are they going to get to their medical appointment because they don't have the funds to cover the gasoline or maybe they're struggling because they have reduced earnings because medical appointments are frequently pulling them away from work you know certainly at that point we'd want to educate them about all of their options for programs in the community that could help alleviate that distress because we want to focus on them getting well you know and and help them cope with their their medical conditions and it's the little things that can become big things that make people sicker too it right stress stress can can certainly harm you you know physically and emotionally so even sometimes those things that may seem insignificant to us it means the the world to a patient it can totally flip the trajectory of how things are going to go for them and i spoke to you many times yes in my job too and um this last time when we spoke we had an in in common client client and you talked about pink heels so that's how i got to meet shelly right through pink heels and i didn't even know that existed correct with that said that's a wonderful resource for everybody absolutely absolutely we're very lucky to have them right we had a lady um that Stephanie had referred to us and her main focus was getting her electric bill paid that wear it on her so much you could tell that it stressed her out and stress in dealing with cancer is not a good thing you don't need that right and we paid that for her you know it just she was so elated so happy that just took the stress out of you know from her i think that when we do the jobs that we all do you have to have a passion for it or you can't do your job as well and i know shelly you spoke about your husband tie so could you um tell us a little bit more about tie how i know you you said they christened the the truck in his name but how did it all begin with your journey and your husband um my journey you know he was he was ill and we just did not when when he got sick you know we never thought it would be cancer you know you never think it was going to that was going to be something like that and then we found out that it was cancer we figured like you normally do it's going to be treatable and um and we needed the help too we came to Stephanie Stephanie helped us you know going through our journey of um basically you know working we get some help with everything and she did a wonderful job well they were brothers they're cousins cousins cousins yeah yes cousins yes so but having a truck named after your husband how rewarding is that absolutely absolutely you know it was um you know when that came about and you're it's on facebook and people are throwing names around you're thinking yeah all right that's not going to get there you know they need to name the truck okay are they going to put his name on there and then um Dawn at the time was um a survivor I mean she was battling at the time and um so they called it Dawn Ty and I got to meet her and she was just a lovely little thing I mean she went on she went whenever we went she went she helped as much as she could she was battling the whole time and then she passed away last year so it's just remarkable I mean how we all came together and she was just a sweet sweet and we all need each other to come together absolutely absolutely right right um I what I would like you to do is share a like a good story about you know whether you were working with Stephanie in the story because I know Aurora does a lot of wonderful things too with through their patient assistance program but can is there that story that sticks in your mind that you could share with us because we do have a little time okay um we were actually we were just at a local school in Sheboygan we've been a couple lately and um we brought in the fire trucks and an ambulance and we came in and they were all waiting outside for us and the biggest thing for him was to ride in the fire truck oh my gosh he actually was in the seat was this now that when you say him was this somebody that was dealing with yes he was a first grader okay he was dealing with cancer that's why you came to the school correct okay so somebody must have called you guys you you guys too I hate that you guys that's okay you're you know yes um the school did and we had to make sure it was okay with the family and everybody else and yeah we just we showed our love and support for them when we came in they're all standing out they're waiting for us and the big all he wanted to do was ride in the fire truck so we put him in someone's lap and he rode around in the parking lot and the the light on his face he just lit up that smile oh my gosh it was just wonderful and he got that teddy bear and he would not let go of that teddy bear and we were probably there for a good 20 minutes we all got our picture in front of the fire truck and I think what impacts when we have the local fires fire stations bring us into the wherever we're going to a home or to a school it impacts them too because they really realize what we're doing I mean you're giving that family and that person a hug if it's not the child or the adult and we're giving them a hug and those three little words I love you that support let them know that we're there well and I think it's important because you know firemen are always people that save everybody which is true but so are policemen but I think nowadays some of that has changed a little bit so it's good for the people to see our police being involved and being who they are actually they're just as helpful and caring as our fire department in a positive way in a positive way absolutely and I think it is an impact for them I think people don't really realize until you do one of these visits what it means to these people and what we actually do well and they're human correct our firemen and our policemen I mean they that must feel good for them inside their hearts too I think something good that people think we're just there for the album of financial we're there for the emotional support and that's the most important that's how I feel and Stephanie do you have anything to share with us about you know a really good story or oh I've got lots of good stories but can we air any of those you know certainly we've referred people over to the pink heels organization certainly there's a story of a young cancer patient who is being treated for breast cancer who really needed to be uplifted you know emotionally and financially and I think emotionally specifically just having the pink heels program be able to go and see her and her family and like you said give them a hug and say that they they were loved that made all of the difference in the world you know it's again it may seem insignificant to some people but that can change the whole course for that patient it puts a face to it it's not like we're just handing them a check and it provides the patient with a sense of community that I am loved I am cared about and it almost makes it seem like well then it's okay if I have breast cancer and I'm sick I'm still going to get through it it's not going to change my diagnosis but there's others involved and it provides a little bit of a break from you know worrying with all the other issues related to their diagnosis so you know certainly in my role I want to find programs such as that and people with organizations that can help a person through that process because we all need a helping hand yes we do so and it's good to know it's about emotions the funding is awesome but really if you can tackle the emotion and be involved and make them feel part of it is really awesome three little words and a hug I love you yeah three little words and a hug right yeah absolutely should put that on a t-shirt I think so there's not enough of that out there nowadays you know it's so bad and a lot of them too a lot you know a lot of the people we talk to they need other than family just to vent to and we're there for that right because I think I think that when I went to this particular family meeting you could open up and they felt safe there and then maybe the spouse or the child isn't going to take offense to what so-and-so is saying because it's all part of that yep and they need to talk to somebody else or you know their family members not that they're getting sick of listening to them but they get sick of maybe venting to them and then we're somebody else they can talk to that you know like for me people ask you why do you do this because I've been I've been down that road my husband passed from this so you can explain and this is my way of giving back if I can give put a smile on just one person's face by three little words and a hug it's just that makes your day it's amazing it really is yeah and I can see it in your eyes when you talk because I'm gonna cry Stephanie too I can see it in your eyes as well yeah and I think it's just important to build up a good care team you know from the medical standpoint from the community organization standpoint and certainly with your your family your friends your loved ones well and you know that person that they're venting to whether it be their spouse their their spouse is having problems dealing with what they're going right everybody brings something unique to the situation absolutely so you know certainly we want it to be patient centered but that includes all of the supporting cast members as well it's good it's a good thing yes it is is there anything you'd like to add we have like two minutes left hmm I would just like to share I would people to go to our facebook page like us we're always looking for volunteers to help out and it's pink heels it's pink heels uh-huh we're on facebook and look at the national tour go to the national tour page pink heels national tour and if you want something very touching you know look at what they've actually done and how we're trying to offer the support and the love and what they actually do you'll hear more about Dave Gravel how he started this 10 years ago his passion for this mission now it's wonderful did he have somebody close to him that passed no he did not he just wanted to start something he's retired firefighter and it is so go to our facebook page like us we have meetings once a month you know always looking for volunteers to help and when do you meet once a month um last thursday of the month and where do you meet usually out of sea lanes at 6 30 but we can you know message us on facebook if something changes we'll you know let you let you know and how many people do you have that come to these meetings right now we're probably roughly about 12 to 15 volunteers that includes the officers and the board members they're always looking for more people to help us to give a little bit more love and support so again could you just say it one more time you meet at odyssey lanes it's the fourth thursday from 6 30 to it's usually about an hour hour and a half at the most uh-huh yes the stephanie go no stephanie does not go you're busy with your family sure yeah well well yeah i i do appreciate having them as an option for our patients well i would like to thank shelly and stephanie for joining us today and informing us about pink heels to our audience thank you for turning into an independent lifestyles please join us next month for another interesting topic on maintaining your health and independence independent lifestyles is sponsored by shabuagan county aging and disability resource center and is shown on spectrum channel 990 uverse channel 99 and u w u w s c s shabuagan com dot com on mondays at 2 30 p.m wednesdays at 7 p.m and thursdays at 9 30 a.m see you next month