It’s no secret there’s a higher percentage of breast cancer in the Hamptons. Pesticides in the soil? PCPs in the water? Whatever the cause, out here, women have been stepping up for each other and the men who face the diagnosis.
Julie Ratner continues to build an all-encompassing system of support in the name of the sister she lost to the disease. That includes state of the art Ellen Hermanson Breast Centers in Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, Hampton Bays and East Hampton.
Interior designer and breast cancer survivor Iris Dankner contributes via the Holiday House she founded 15 years ago, which also raised funds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). Jean Shafiroff is Chair of the first and Philanthropy Chair of the second. Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright has our backs in the New York State Legislature. “The legislation I sponsored to require insurance companies to cover the cost of cancer detection regardless of a patient’s ability to pay is now state law,” Rebecca told me. “We must continue to support even more.”
“When I was diagnosed (more than 25 years ago), no one even talked about breast cancer,” Iris told me. “It was still very hush-hush. I have two daughters and I made it my business to bring this out in the open and talk about our bodies the way we talk about any other cancer.
“I was diagnosed at my first routine mammogram. After that horrible year, I found giving back really helped me heal.” This year, In keeping with Iris’ visual aesthetic, she asked everyone to wear white. Quite effective against the backdrop of the show house and its outdoor light-hued decor.
Plus, there was Black River caviar and Dos Hombres mezcal. Thank you, Iris!
Dankner co-chaired with Christian Siriano, Campion Platt and Andrea Stark. Christopher Burnside built and brokered the house. Elegant Affairs were most excellent caterers. Spirits came from Aphrodise, a new bubbly rose making the rounds through Hamptons events, Tito’s Montaukila, Dos Hombres cocktails and wines from Wölffer Estate. The event was presented by Brown Harris Stevens, and featured the talents of designers including Abigail Kahan, Alder & Tweed, Ashbourne Designs, Brianna Scott Interiors, Elissa Grayer Interior Design, Fish Row Design, Found Collectibles for Collette Home, House To Home Interiors, KA Design Group, LGC Interiors & Andrea Stark, Nicole Alexandra Design, Past Lives Studio, Riese Design, Romina Frecha Design, Sarah Tract Interiors, Shelley Cekirge Interiors, Siriano Interiors, Spruce Interior, Susan Strauss Design, Techno Gym X Brianna Scott Interiors and Unlimited Earthcare by Federico Azevedo.
Sponsors included: Brown Harris Stevens, Little Greene and Collette Home, OCHRE, intech, Bowers & Wilkins Marantz, Singulart, GRAFF, Lladró, TechnoGym, ARHAUS, ARTE, Visual Comfort & Co., Ted Bradley Studio, STARK, reflectel, Royal Botania, Jennair, Despatch of Southampton, FRETTE, Unlimited Earth Care, New York’s Little Elves, Baldwin, Naturopathica and Scott’s Protein Balls.
Wanna see it? Holiday House will be open through September 8, 2024 on Thursday – Monday, 11:00am – 5:00pm. www.holidayhousehamptons.com
Another beautiful backdrop for the cause was the oceanfront Bridgehampton Tennis & Surf Club, locale for the Ellen Hermanson Foundation Summer Gala 2024. Foundation Co-founder and Chair Dr. Julie Ratner and Gala Chair Jean Shafiroff welcomed guests. Dr. Fredric Weinbaum, former Chief Administrative Office and Chief Operating Officer of Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, was honored for his commitment to The Ellen Hermanson Breast Center.
Also honored: New York State Assemblywoman Rebecca A. Seawright for sponsoring and getting passed a bill requiring health insurance companies to pay for 3D mammography, tomosynthesis for all NY State women. “The true honorees, however, are the survivors and their families that so courageously battle the scourge of breast cancer,” Rebecca told me. Thanks to Assemblywoman Seawright, insurance companies in our state must cover the cost of cancer detection regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.
That’s right in line with Julie’s ethos. “Our foundation believes access to quality care should be a human right and everyone should have it,” she told me. “And it’s happening here. We work hard to raise the money and then keep it in our community to serve the most people, do the most good and see the concrete results. Through our programs like Ellen’s Well, a free psycho-social services program, we have all kinds of lifesaving outreach and support. Our goal has always been to have the rigors of a teaching hospital and the caring of a community. And I think we’ve achieved this.”
The gala is filled with recipients of Julie’s personal care. In fact the entire Hamptons is. I ran into Julia at a supermarket once. Within five minutes, a breast cancer survivor came over to thank Julie for helping save her life.
There were cocktails overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, dinner, dancing, a bonfire and s’mores on the beach. Lucas Hunt was emcee and auctioneer. The live auction featured Opening Night at the Metropolitan Opera, a Platinum dinner served in the winner’s home by Chef Pasquale Martinelli, an Aspen condo, and dinner at the Tribeca penthouse of My Unorthodox Life creator and star, Julia Haart. A special silent auction featured denim jackets created by artists and fashion designers including April Goronik, Amy Zerner, Jane Elissa, Julie Feldman, Cesar Galindo, Shani Grosz, and Roger Sichel.
For more, visit www.ellenhermanson.org
I couldn’t help thinking of these two events, while listening to legendary sustainable landscape designer Edwina von Gal speak at our yearly Lake Association picnic. The common belief posits the potato farms Hamptons homes were built upon factor in our high incidence of breast cancer.
Why are the studies still inconclusive? I asked. “There are so many chemicals poured into our soil that interact with each other,” von Gal explained. “The complications of exploring it in a laboratory situation is either beyond our capacity or much too expensive. We have proof that glyphosate and Round Up caused Non-Hodgkins lymphoma related to the fact that one person used that one chemical for many, many years without being exposed to anything else.
“Most people really haven’t stopped to think about the fertilizers, insecticides and weed killers they use. Most of them are carcinogenic, endocrine and nervous system disrupters. But, how do you prove it if it started from the time you were a child playing in the grass?
“Cancer causing chemicals have been used historically on potato fields, and our drinking water sources are tied to that. We know that chemicals accumulate in our body over time. They’re discovering most of it interferes with different biomes. Nobody had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that cigarettes cause cancer to get people to stop smoking. Why are they filling their landscapes with cancer causing chemicals and sending their children and pets out there to play?”
Why? Marketing. And the culture of the quick fix. We come to the Hamptons for its natural beauty, then destroy it. We turn beautiful woods into generic lawns and hedges.
Edwina says this “purity of tidiness” aesthetic has created a “cycle of dependency on chemical and mechanical management. The landscape industry has sold a highly simplistic kind of landscape to the public because they can make much more money. They tell you to chop, feed, water and spray your trees. But trees are fine without us.
“Every cut is a wound. We are removing their leaf surface capacity for photosynthesis and sending it to overloaded landfills. Then, they need more water and fertilizer. The fertilizer pushes them to behave in unhealthy ways. Your tree may grow faster, but that’s weak growth, off season, and highly susceptible to insects. Then, they sell you spray programs which poison the earth.”
In the natural order, dead wood houses birds, dead leaves and grass are perfect fertilizers. When nature is in balance, everything works together. We just have to do no harm. Pesticides that kill ticks, kill fish as well. Fertilizers feed invasive species in our lake. And so on and so on.
“Your yard, your land is alive and to some extent dependent on you,” says this literal earth mother, with a fairy godmother demeanor. “We imposed this idea of ownership on it. There are billions of lives out there looking to you to not harm them. And our own health is connected to theirs.”
So, embrace a peaceable kingdom. Nature’s system of interconnectivity is spectacular and sustainable. Let that all knowing designer be your landscaper.
And get a little help from www.perfectearthproject.org
