Irene Pollin, wife of Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin, is founder and president of the Sister to Sister Foundation, which provides free heart disease screenings to women.
What caused you to get involved with this issue?
Well, I’m going to tell you, although I don’t talk much about it. It really has to do with the fact that we lost two children. My daughter, particularly, was 16 years old. My son was 15 months old. She and he were born with severe congenital heart conditions. If my children had been born with healthy hearts, like you or me, then we could take care of them. So I feel very strongly that if you’re lucky enough, thank God, to be born with a healthy heart, then boy, you better take care of it.
When and where did you start the program?
I started this actually eight years ago, which was kind of a challenge because I’m a psychiatric social worker. We did it in the Verizon Center, of course. And the first year we had 2,000 women come — in a major snowstorm! It was really incredible. The following year we had 4,000 women.
What was the reaction?
Everybody was saying, “Can you make this national?” I said, “Yeah, sure,” you know? I didn’t know what I was getting into! So we created this wonderful, wonderful health fair that’s now in 17 cities.
How’d you persuade women to show?
By making it a nonthreatening atmosphere. Early on, I wouldn’t say, “Come and get screened.” I’d say, “Come to the health fair and have a good time — and then get the screen.” It was fun and it was free. The idea was to reach across to people, from whoever wanted to come to people who couldn’t afford a screen.
What do you think of Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James, who keeps knocking the Wizards out of the playoffs?
I got really mad this year when our fans called him overrated. I said, no, he’s not overrated. He’s really great. But he’s still only one guy and we should really beat them.
