County Commissioners raise breast cancer awareness with proclamation

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

Lebanon County Commissioners proclaimed Oct. 13 as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day during their Thursday, Oct. 2 meeting.

The day is part of the overall awareness campaign for National Breast Cancer Awareness month in October. 

The proclamation noted that breast cancer is “the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women worldwide and remains the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the United States.”

Additionally, an estimated “319,750 Americans will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2025 and 42,860 lives will be lost to the disease – equivalent to 117 lives per day – with 98 percent of those deaths due to metastatic breast cancer (MBC).” 

The proclamation, which was read by county administrator Jamie Wolgemuth, soberly notes that “despite advances in early detection and treatment, approximately 30% of early-stage breast cancers will eventually metastasize, with no known cure.”

Local resident Dan Shuman, who is part of the METAvivor Research and Support national nonprofit organization, said he lost his daughter to metastatic breast cancer. He accepted the proclamation on behalf of the national nonprofit, and noted his daughter passed in 2024, three years after receiving her diagnosis.

“If you hear of someone who is dying from breast cancer, it is stage 4, yet it is really less than 5% of general cancer research funds (that) go for stage 4 research. It’s really terribly underfunded,” Shuman said. “METAvivor, the organization, is the only nationwide organization dedicated solely to raising funding and awareness for stage 4 breast cancer.”

Metastatic breast cancer occurs when the disease spreads from the breasts to other parts of the body, including the bones, brain, liver, and lungs. Shuman noted the organization this year passed the $30 million in funds raised for this particular form of cancer, but added there’s “a long, long way to go with this research.”

Aging agency actions

In other business on what was a short agenda for the first of two meetings in October, commissioners addressed two issues presented by Adrian Layser, administrator of the Lebanon County Area Agency on Aging.

One action was accepting block grant funding while the other was to make improvements to the agency’s parking lot.

The agency accepted an Older Adult Services Grant from the state department of aging with an amended amount of $1,375,630 for fiscal year 2025-26. It was noted this amount is an increase of $6,266 from the original grant funding. 

Layer said the grant funding is based on the Interstate Funding Formula, which is calculated based on the weight of adults age 60 and older whose income is less than 150% of the federal poverty level, underrepresented races or ethnicities, and individuals in that age group living in rural areas.

The grant will be used for programs administered under the agency’s four-year plan that was approved in 2024.

In the second action, commissioners unanimously voted to approve awarding Annville-based ProSeal Asphalt Maintenance a contract for upper and lower parking lot maintenance for $18,795.25. The county’s aging agency’s office is at 710 Maple St., Lebanon.

Work to be performed for this project includes cleaning the surface area, crack sealing, seal coating commercial surface, line painting, line painting removal/blackening out, pavement assessment, and supplies. 

The parking lot was last maintained in 2021, and the company is a member of the COSTARS Cooperative Agreement Purchasing Program.

COSTARS is the commonwealth’s cooperative purchasing program that serves as a conduit through which registered and eligible local public procurement units and state-affiliated entities are able to leverage contracts established by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services to cost-effectively and efficiently identify suppliers with whom to do business.

Other actions  

In other business, commissioners unanimously voted to: 

• Provide three hotel tax grants to the following entities, their events and in the following amounts: Legends on Stage, Logan Brinson Elvis Festival, Nov. 22, $2,000; Motorama Productions’ 2026 Dragfest, date to be determined, $5,000; and Drunken Smithy, Yule Bazaar, Dec. 13-14, $2,500. The hotel tax grant fund was at $14,104.69 at the start of the meeting.
• Name the following to the Commission for Women Advisory Board: Luz (Lucy) Cruz Carrion; Heather Herman; Deborah Hornick; and Kristen Portner. All four appointees live in Lebanon and were appointed to three-year terms through Dec. 31, 2028.  
• Grant full real estate tax exemptions to seven fully disabled veterans or their families.
• Approve the treasurer’s report, including an ending balance of $914,287.23, which included Friday’s payroll and October’s insurance premiums obligations. 
• Grant personnel transactions as presented by the Human Resources Department.
• Accept the minutes of their Sept. 18 meeting and Sept. 17 workshop.

Lebanon County Commissioners meet the first and third Thursday of the month at 9:30 a.m. in Room 207 of the Lebanon County Municipal Building, 400 S. 8th St., Lebanon.