County Sheriff's Officers Make "Pink Patch" Donation

Last Wednesday morning, several Morris County Sheriff’s officers were on their way to the Malcolm Forbes Amphitheater at Morristown Medical Center to honor one of their own through a donation to the Carol W. and Julius A. Rippel Breast Center.

Dr. Paul Friedman, medical director of the breast center, introduced Morris County Sheriff James Gannon, who presented a check for $3,000 to the Breast Center on behalf of his department. The donation was in memory of and to honor the late Detective Lisa di Palma Bonfiglio, a member of the crime scene investigation unit (CSI). The sheriff, who had worked with her, described her as “a phenomenal woman … who fought a heroic battle with breast cancer” before losing that battle in 2009.

The donation was made up of the proceeds from the Pink Patch Program – a nation-wide fund-raising effort undertaken by police departments during October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Police officers buy their own Pink Patch which they wear on their uniform during October. They also sell them to members of their staff and the public, and designate a local organization involved with breast cancer to receive the donations from the sales. The Pink Patch is usually a replica of their department’s official patch, with the bulk of the embroidery on the patch being pink. The patch worn by the Morris County Sheriff’s officers in October not only had a pink embroidered outline on its edge and on the sheriff’s star, it also featured two iconic pink ribbons flanking the word “Sheriff” on the bottom of the patch.

During the presentation, Sheriff Gannon gave a shout out to the two unions that led the fund-raising effort Morris County Sheriff’s Office PBA 151, which represents the Bureau of Law Enforcement Officers, and Morris County Corrections Officers PBA 298. This was the second year the department had taken part in the Pink Patch Program. The officers sold more than 600 patches this year.

Later in the day, the sheriff said “almost everyone in the department wore the pink patch. Everybody really embraced it.” His mother, who is now 90, is a breast cancer survivor, so he is well aware of the challenges breast cancer patients face.

After the presentation, he and other officers took a tour of the Breast Center. “We went to the Rippel Breast Center to see what is there. It’s nice to know that right in our backyard we have the most technologically advanced breast cancer screening available,” he said, adding he was impressed by the staff, as well as “volunteers there, who are so engaged, so positive, so friendly.” They help make the experience for the women being treated for breast cancer less frightening, “We saw that up close and personal today … and saw that the people there are doing well, both medically and emotionally,” he said.

The Carol W. and Julius A. Rippel Breast Center is located in the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center, at Morristown Medical Center, and is part of Atlantic Health System. Nurse Navigator Renee Trambert said that the monies donated on Wednesday “will be used to support our patient care through diagnosis and treatment of women diagnosed with breast cancer, enhancing the patient care experience through the Carol Simon Cancer Center.”

She said she was honored to meet Sheriff Gannon and Undersheriff Alan Robinson and thanked “Lt. M. Schweizer, who spearheaded the Pink Patch Project during the month of October.”