WWBA November 2018 Newsletter

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Westchester Women’s Bar Association and JALBCA
Hon. Sandra A. Forster
WWBA and JALBCA
(Judges and Lawyers Breast
Cancer Alert) held a joint program
on October 18, 2018 at
the Westchester County Courthouse
in White Plains. The
speakers provided new and interesting
information about
breast cancer.
Judge Sondra Miller, who in
1992 co-founded JALBCA, introduced
the program. She told
us that Judge Judith Kaye and
she decided that something had
to be done to provide women
with information about breast
cancer and to enable them to
make decisions about detection
and treatment of the disease.
JALBCA raised $60,000 last year.
Judge Miller has been an advocate
for enabling women to have
access to knowledge and to early
detection, which is the key to
good health.
JALBCA provides screening
for mammographies and for
clinical breast exams for women
regardless of their insurance. In
addition, it provides navigation
for patients who have abnormal
mammographies and clinical
exams that indicate there is a
possible issue with breast cancer.
It directs women to diagnostic
centers throughout New
York City at no charge, whether
An Interview with Hon. Mary H. Smith
from previous page
surge in pro se litigants, intent
on taking their own cases to
trial. In addition to their inexperience,
they frequently seem
to have trouble respecting a female
authority figure. Although
much has changed for the better
over the years, I sincerely
believe that we need still more
women attorneys trying cases
before juries.
Q: How did you balance work
Kim Berg, Hon. Sondra Miller, Dr. Randy E. Stevens, Hon. Sandra
Forster, and Dr. Alisan B. Goldfarb
or not the women have insurance.
JALBCA provides generous
funding for early testing for
women and stresses that there
is no financial excuse to avoid
screening.
Dr. Alisan B. Goldfarb, a
breast surgeon, spoke about the
risks of having cancer. She discussed
the factors that place you
at risk. She listed the environment,
medicines that you are
taking, smoking, certain foods
and lack of exercise. She pointed
to an ideal body weight that we
should try to reach, by cardio
exercise, namely 2 ½ hours per
week, at 20 minute blocks, working
with weights for muscle development,
strengthening quads
and glutes and holding ourselves
erect and not slumping like an
old person.
Dr. Goldfarb stated that we
life and family over the years?
A: For most of my career I was
a single mother raising two children
alone, from their infancy
to their college years. Of course
I had to hire child care help,
but even then I often felt guilty
because I was always running
from one responsibility to the
next. Looking back on it, being
a single mother, being a Judge
and having to run political campaigns
from time to time, I don’t
know how I did it. And yet, it
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was the happiest time of my life.
I decided to spend all the time I
could at home with the children.
And I don’t regret it.
Q: When not on the bench,
what other activities are you
engaged in as hobbies and in
the community?
A: I perform volunteer work for
certain church activities and
work with local arts groups, such
as the Untermeyer Performing
Arts Council in Yonkers. I also
go to the gym (not enough),
should strive for an anti-cancer
diet which includes green leafy
vegetables, such as kale, vegetables
such as broccoli and
Brussels sprouts and fruits that
include berries. She emphasized
that sugars are poison,
especially refined sugars, and
that everyone should decrease
the intake of animal protein, including
dairy products. She also
indicated that alcohol consumption
should be limited to
four drinks per week. Her emphasis
is on keeping healthy by
focusing on these guidelines.
Dr. Randy E. Stevens, Director
of Radiation Oncology at
White Plains Hospital Center for
Cancer Care, spoke next. She
told us that the center focuses
on personalized medicine, targeting
treatment to each patient.
The goal is to de-escalate treatment
to be most effective and to
spare the patient harmful side
effects. The center is using clinical
trials to develop benefits to
all patients. The goal is, if indicated,
to eliminate the need for
chemotherapy, to keep the radiation
at a low dosage and to
localize the radiation to the area
of the tumor. Sometimes when
the cancer is at zero stage it can
be considered pre-cancer and
after a biopsy, there may be no
need to remove the tumor.
Dr. Stevens discussed genomic
revelations where genetic
testing of the tumor may identify
the gene and enable them to
match the treatment to the genetic
finding. She also discussed
the various screening techniques,
such as mammographies,
ultra sound and MRI and
the application of each method.
She stated that 3D mammographies
reveal multiple angles of
the breast and are incredibly
revealing. She said that digital
mammographies would eventually
be phased out. Most importantly,
she emphasized selfexam
and said that self-awareness
is the key to early detection
of cancer.
The audience appreciated
the opportunity to ask questions
of the two very knowledgeable
and experienced doctors. ◗
swim regularly, and am a film
buff. I have traveled widely.
Q: What would you most like
to achieve professionally and
personally going forward?
A: As of now, my goal is to
provide a very fair and informed
forum to litigants on a
day-to-day basis. In the future
I am very interested in pursuing
writing as a second career,
since I feel I have many
stories to tell after a long career
on the bench. ◗
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Westchester Women’s Bar Association News