Thanks to partnerships with the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs, Aurora Health Care and Advocate Health Care have received countless forms of generosity over the years, and this year is no different. Together we’ve brought joy to patients and students, raised funds for programs that strengthen our communities and ultimately helped even more people live well.
The good deeds from our local teams started with an extra special visit to Aurora Health Care’s Kradwell School on April 25 in Wauwatosa, WI, where Brewers pitcher Hoby Milner met with students, took part in a Q&A session and signed autographs. Kradwell School is open to 8th-12th graders battling a wide range of mental health challenges. It offers a full curriculum of academic studies with small class sizes, creating a unique educational environment free from distractions to help students reach their academic goals. From there, students have the option to return to a traditional school setting or graduate from Kradwell with a state-certified high school diploma.
The following day, Cubs player Adbert Alzolay helped distribute food at Advocate Health Care’s Healthy Living Food Farmacy. Alzolay teamed up with more than 20 Advocate Trinity Hospital teammates and volunteers providing fresh fruits and vegetables to more than 150 patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. The event, which was founded by Dr. Tony Hampton, physician lead for Advocate’s Healthy Living Program, and held on Chicago’s South Side, handed out more than 2,600 pounds of food to further the notion of using food as medicine to help close the health equity gap for patients in underserved communities.
“Being able to come out here today, to give back like this, hand out food and put smiles on the faces of all these people means a lot to me,” Alzolay said. “My wife is a nutritionist, so I know first-hand how eating well and eating fresh foods can help with illnesses and for people like myself to perform their best on the field. Also just getting to interact with the fans as well, hand out food and take photos. It was a great experience and I’m glad I was able to be here today.”
Leading up to the Milwaukee Brewers Pink Out game, which raises awareness on the importance of early mammogram screenings, Brewers’ pitchers Hoby Milner and Eric Lauer along with mascot Bernie Brewer visited with breast cancer patients at Aurora’s West Allis campus on May 12. The players made their rounds offering a comforting smile and conversation in support of patients who are facing an incredibly difficult time in their lives.
“Just to bring smiles to people's faces that are going through some tough times, if that's all that we get that's better than nothing and if we can do anything at all, then I'm happy to do it," Milner said.
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