[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7934-7935]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 A TRIBUTE TO JEAN M. LYNN, CLINICAL COORDINATOR, BREAST CARE CENTER, 
              GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

  (Mr. OBERSTAR asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, the oncology nurse may well be as close as 
mere mortals come to angels on earth. These extraordinary health 
professionals must win the trust of their cancer patients while 
injecting toxics into the inflicted body. They must inspire hope of a 
better life in a patient who often wonders whether the treatment might 
be worse than the disease, and they must be gentle, comforting and 
reassuring to an often bewildered, even frightened cancer victim, 
desperate for someone truly to be their advocate.
  Jean Lynn, Clinical Coordinator of the Breast Care Center at George 
Washington University Medical Center, personifies all of those prized 
qualities of the ideal oncology nurse, an angel to her patients, a role 
model to her colleagues.
  One of Jean Lynn's coworkers said it best, ``her patients love her 
and she was never too busy to love them in return. She truly cares 
about each and every one and becomes their advocate in the fight 
against breast cancer.''
  I witnessed Jean's love of patients and her enthusiasm for service to 
society during the years my beloved wife, Jo, was in her care at the GW 
oncology unit, more than a decade ago.
  Jean Lynn, a creative health professional, blessed with a restless, 
pioneering spirit, charted a new frontier in the field of breast 
health, when she launched the first mobile mammogram program in 
Washington, D.C., designed to reach women in the under served 
community. She is founder of the Harvest Moon Classic 10 K Run/5 K 
Walk, to increase awareness about breast cancer and to raise funds for 
the breast care center. Jean also puts her boundless energy to work on 
behalf of innovative programs to improve women's health and advocating 
for legislation to help women diagnosed with breast cancer, but are 
unable to afford treatment.
  From the very beginning of her career as an oncology nurse in the 
1970s, Jean Lynn has understood the importance of education, 
prevention, and early detection of breast cancer.

[[Page 7935]]

I recall very distinctly during the years when my wife, Jo, was in her 
care, Jean's ``brainstorming'' the need for a special place where 
women's concerns for and fears of breast health and breast cancer could 
be addressed. It would be a monumental task to establish such a 
facility, but Jean charged forward, developing a business plan, 
defining the mission of such a center, proposing appropriate staff 
positions for multi-disciplinary approach to the issue, and secured the 
funding to establish the Breast Cancer Center. In the process, Jean 
trained and became certified in 1991 for Mammacare, a comprehensive 
method of breast self-exam. Later, she became the Associate Director of 
Training for the Mammatech Corporation, training other Mammacare 
specialists.
  The GW Breast Care Center offers diagnoses and treatment for benign 
and malignant diseases, as well as education and psycho-social support 
for patients and their families. In addition, Jean Lynn saw the need to 
establish a resource library specifically dedicated to breast health 
issues in response to the lack of available information and credible 
sources--and the need to have such material gathered in one location so 
that patients and their families can readily access this valuable 
information.
  Jean Lynn's vision of the mobile mammography program reached fruition 
in September 1996 when the Mammovan was launched under the sponsorship 
of the Cancer Research Foundation of America and the GW University 
Medical Center. The Mammovan travels to corporate sites, as well as 
neighborhoods where many women are uninsured. Over 4,000 women have 
received screening tests since the mobile program was launched; more 
than half of the women screened are uninsured and had never previously 
had a mammogram.
  Tributes of gratitude for Jean's lectures, conferences, mammogram 
services have poured in from the White House nurse, the World Bank, 
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the American Bar Association, 
Marymount University, and countless individual women for whom Jean Lynn 
has opened a new window on life with access to breast health care and 
realistic hope for a healthful future.
  Jean truly believes that families come first and is unfailingly 
involved in the activities of her children, William and daughter, 
Kelly, with the loving support of her husband, David Gearin.
  Mr. Speaker, I know that Jean Lynn's tireless pursuit of the very 
best in breast health care will continue to post milestones of ever-
greater achievements in the years to come. I can only say in the words 
of my late, dear, Jo: ``God bless you and love you, Jean Lynn.''

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