Our History
HISTORY OF THE WEST ISLIP BREAST CANCER COALITION FOR LONG ISLAND
As told to Margaret Campise, President 2011
by Lorraine Pace, WIBCC’s first President 1992
Recently I had the pleasure of having some long talks with Lorraine Pace who informed me of the actual history of the West Islip Breast Cancer Coalition. With our 20th Anniversary coming up I wanted to get the whole story of the inception.
In early 1992 Lorraine Pace was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. When she was diagnosed with the breast cancer Lorraine realized that 20 people she knew all of whom lived in her West Islip neighborhood south of Montauk Highway also had breast cancer. That is what spurred her very public, relentless crusade to call attention to breast cancer in Suffolk County. Along with her husband John Pace, who did all of the legal work pro-bono, Lorraine founded the West Islip Breast Cancer Coalition.
Lorraine Pace was President, Pat Nichols was VP, Maria Diorio was secretary, and John Pace Esq. was the attorney for the WIBCC and did all of the necessary legal work for the creation of the 501 (c) 3. He later had the name change to the West Islip Breast cancer Coalition for Long Island. WIBCC was the first Suffolk County coalition and the second after 1 in 9.
Lorraine was worried that chemicals dumped into the ground since 1932 was getting into our ground water. With the help and support of Dr. Michael J. Feinstein, Maria Diario, Pat Nichols, Mary Hibbard, and Michael Lo Grande, along with the support of Reverend Thomas Arnao, and the encouragement of Good Samaritan Hospital, Lorraine began to survey the women in her neighborhood about breast cancer and put their responses on a map. After 18 months, she and her cadre of volunteers had covered 8,750 homes in her ZIP code. This also spread nationwide and abroad due to the attention of the media. This was the beginning of the Breast Cancer Environmental Movement.
There you have it, the birth of the West Islip Breast Cancer Coalition. From there it moved forward and worked in conjunction with Good Samaritan Hospital and the beginnings of the Breast Health Center. Here it is 20 years later and many changes have been made, many men and woman have served on the Board of Directors to mold together the Coalition it is today.
