For the third consecutive year, Lovelace Women’s Hospital and the Anita Salas Memorial Fund (ASMF) have teamed up together for Lovelace’s annual Girls’ Night Out event. The event is focused on awareness of breast health and wellness, all while enjoying a fun girls’ night out together! The activities for this event include mini manicures and massages, spa and jewelry vendors, a fashion show, raffle and much more. The raffle tickets for this event directly benefit ASMF, a local nonprofit 501(c)3 whose mission is to assist underserved women and men of New Mexico by helping pay for breast or cervical cancer treatment or related bills, such as lodging, transportation or medications for treatment. The program helps moderate- to low-income women and men who are uninsured or underinsured, with all of the funds going directly to the bills.
Diane DaCamara, project director of ASMF, shares how the fund was established and continues to grow. “The fund was started by a woman named Anita Salas,” she says. “She was the program manager for the New Mexico Department of Health’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program and initially named the fund 'Drive for Life’. Anita chose this name because she was a golfer and would hold golf tournaments to raise money. This money would then go to help women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer or for men who are diagnosed with breast cancer to help pay for part of their treatment.” When Anita passed away in 1998, the fund was renamed to honor her memory and dedication to public health in New Mexico. Diane has been with the fund since 2002. “I have seen this fund grow from infancy to a teenager,” she exclaims. “Our fund is much bigger than when I started but we aren’t one of the big fish in the sea. We are still small but we like to call ourselves ‘a small fund with a big heart’ because we still help men and women across the state. I have watched us get a better foundation and be able to really give back to the community in great ways, so it has been my pleasure to be a part of this fund for over 14 years.”
All of the staff of ASMF are volunteers, with no paid staff. 100 percent of the money donated to them stays in New Mexico. “We have our own board and then volunteers, so there are about 15 people who volunteer for ASMF,” says Diane. ASMF only has a 5 percent administration fee, and the other 95 percent of every dollar goes directly to helping men and women in New Mexico. Diane also shares how excited ASMF is to be working with Lovelace Women’s Hospital again this year to raise money for their fund. “Lovelace has been amazingly great to ASMF and it has been fun to work with the Lovelace Girls’ Night Out event,” says Diane. “It is a totally fun and exciting event and there is a real energy throughout the night. It is a really great group and people are just happy. It is definitely one of my favorite events.”
To learn more about Lovelace Women’s Hospital’s Girls’ Night Out event, please click here or register by calling 898.3030.