The Houston West Chamber’s Women Driving Business event series is once again presented by The Rose. Women Driving Business proudly supports this non-profit, which was created by strong, determined women who did whatever it took to care for one another. By the mid-1980s, , the oil bust had paralyzed Texas. Folks were out of work. Most had lost their health insurance and many were losing their homes. In the midst of all the chaos and uncertainty, the incidence of breast cancer began its deadly climb. Poor and uninsured women were hit the hardest and many died because they couldn’t get help in time. At a chance meeting in 1984, hospital public relations director Dorothy Gibbons and general surgeon Dr. Dixie Melillo were challenged by the famed journalist Rose Kushner to do something about this crisis. They decided to start their own non-profit, a diagnostic clinic that would care for the thousands of Texas women who had nowhere else to turn and who would die without help. At a time when succeeding as a non-profit was against all the odds, The Rose was born.
From its humble beginnings in a tiny office in a strip mall, The Rose now serves 40,000 people a year– women from all walks of life, from huge cities or small rural communities — who face falling through the cracks of the healthcare system.
Learn more about The Rose and the 2019 Women Driving Business events at WomenDrivingBusiness.com or contact Kari Werner at kari@hwcoc.org or 713-785-4922. Limited sponsor and vendor opportunities are available. The event series jumpstarts Friday, September 13.
