Andrea Lucas, seated on the left, is a Fund-Raising
Assistant with the Arthritis Society. She and Mary-Lou Hussak, Manager of
Regional Development for Northeastern Ontario, were on hand for the
Foresters BIG Swim for Arthritis, handing out information brochures to
visitors to the Howard Armstrong Recreation Centre during the event.
Standing in the photo, from the left, are Bob McOrmond, Anne Gervais,
Facility Pool Operator, Pete Wilford, a participant who swam 2500 metres,
and Pat McOrmond.
According to Mary-Lou, Arthritis doesn't seem to get as high a profile
as some of the other diseases like Heart & Stroke and Cancer, but it
is definitely a life-debilitating disease that afflicts a large segment of
the population. In fact, statistics show that with a rate of 22.8% of the
population of the Greater Sudbury Area being diagnosed with some form of
arthritis, this is the 2nd highest region in Ontario with the disease. The
provincial average is only 17%.
The Foresters have been in existence for over 126 years and have been
established in Sudbury since 1972. They have a local membership of
approximately 600, with a couple of dozen active members involved in
numerous fund-raising events such as the BIG SWIM.
Christine Brosseau generated a great deal of publicity for the event in
Valley East. She and her pet bird, Sammy, have been at the mall collecting
pledges every Saturday for over a month. To see the other articles that
have been written about Christine's quest, follow the links below:
