The Ellen Hermanson Foundation Hosts First Ever Comedy Event, Tickled Pink

Published by Southampton Press
By Rachel Valdespino
January 28, 2020

Andrina Smith. Photo credit Jared Bronen.

The Ellen Hermanson Foundation, a Hamptons-based organization established in 1997 in memory of Ellen Hermanson, dedicated to raising money and providing health care for breast cancer research and patients, is hosting its first-ever night of comedy, dubbed “Tickled Pink.”

The event will be held at the LTV Media Center in Wainscott on Saturday, February 8, from 6:30 to 10 p.m.

Dr. Julie Ratner, Ellen Hermanson’s older sister, is the co-founder and chairwoman of the foundation and is at the forefront of organizing the event. “This is our first event where comedy is the main event — we wanted to kick it off with something unique, fresh and different,” she said.

Tickled Pink will feature comedy by Jessica Kirson — who has appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “The View” and “Kevin Can Wait.” Andrina Wekontash Smith, a member of the Shinnecock Nation who is a writer, actor and stand-up comic who recently completed a residency at the Watermill Center, also will be performing.

“Jessica is our lead comic, and then we have our special guest, Andrina … I’ve had the opportunity to meet Andrina, and I’m in love with her — she just rocks,” Dr. Ratner said.

Ms. Smith is a native East End resident, a millennial and a friend of a person dealing with breast cancer.

“One of my very dear friends was diagnosed right off the bat with stage four, and, you know, they are not very hopeful. But there’s a place in Texas that she’s been going to, and I call her and we talk. And I say, ‘So you know, f--- cancer,’ and we keep moving forward,” Ms. Smith said.

“I’ve unfortunately had a lot of family elders pass away from cancer, and it’s kind of given me a perspective on death and pain that I might not have had otherwise,” she added. “Being able to find humor in a dark place is something that is important — and that’s the root, or essence, of what my comedy is.”

Dr. Ratner said Tickled Pink will include food, drinks, and live and silent auctions, in addition to the stand-up performances. Tickets can be purchased on the foundation website, www.ellenhermanson.org. Individual tickets are $100, and benefactor tickets are $250, which include recognition and special seating.

Dr. Ratner and her sister Emily Levin came together in 1996 to honor their younger sister, who died in 1995 at the age of 42 from breast cancer.

Ms. Hermanson was a journalist and spent the last portion of her life educating her readers about the challenges of living with breast cancer and the importance of early detection. The topics of pain management and the effects of breast cancer on the entire family were also of the utmost importance within her writing.

“What was important for Ellen at the end of her life was to spread awareness. She said, ‘People in my position don’t have time to compromise for pain,’ and that resonated with many,” Dr. Ratner said.

Since its establishment, the foundation has distributed over $4 million in grants. One of the latest was given in December to the Shinnecock Nation, to fund a project called “The Pink Shawl.”

“It’s still very much in the works, but the project would help provide Native American women on the reservation with breast health services. It would be located and administered on the reservation via the health center that is already present,” Dr. Ratner explained.

The foundation also puts on Ellen’s Run, an annual 5K race that has been the cornerstone event for the foundation for the past 25 years.

As the foundation grew over the past two decades, so has its commitment to the community. Dr. Ratner said the parties have grown in size and the foundation has been able to raise a lot more money. “I think that this would have reflected what Ellen wanted very much,” she said.

In 2008, the foundation was given the opportunity to create a self-contained state-of-the-art breast center that operates within what is now Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. Since the center’s opening in August 2009, it has been living up to its mission, she said.

“When we were given the opportunity to open the center, we accepted, but with two caveats: No one is turned away because she doesn’t have insurance or the ability to pay, and there needs to be a way to figure out how to marry the rigor of a teaching hospital with the warmth of a community institution,” Dr. Ratner said.

She said she and other board members all agree that people on the East End deserve the center and shouldn’t have to travel many miles to receive quality care. The Ellen Hermanson Breast Center provides education, detection, treatment and recovery classes for women of the region.

“Our goal has always been to have a breast center that is as technologically advanced as a teaching center in a metropolis such as New York. Our breast center is all that,” she said. “We also made sure it has a spa-like feel, with soft colors and lighting, making it as non-threatening and accessible for the women that visit as possible.”

With just over a week until Tickled Pink, Dr. Ratner and her team say they are looking forward to the event and hoping it will bring joy and a moment of clarity to those who need it most.

“There’s this book by Dr. Herbert Benson called ‘The Relaxation Response,’ and he asserts that all of our thoughts produce a chemical reaction within our bodies,” Dr. Ratner said. “And if that’s true, think about how you laugh and how it changes you — it’s a way to deal with pain management.”

Original article: https://www.27east.com/southampton-press/the-ellen-hermanson-foundation-hosts-first-ever-comedy-event-tickled-pink-1673209/?highlight=tickled%20pink