Hope Floats: SS Colon Cruiser

Crew of the SS Colon Cancer

To promote colon cancer awareness, the staff and physicians of Regions Hospital Department of Gastroenterology built a boat to compete in this year’s Minneapolis Aquatennial milk carton boat races, held July 19 at Lake Calhoun.  The S.S. Colon Cruiser actually did stay afloat, and won in the first heat of the race.

It took GI staff and other volunteers about a week to build the boat in the lobby of the HealthPartners Specialty Center 435, where patients and employees could monitor its progress. To ensure it would float, the boat required 258 empty milk jugs donated by employees from across the organization. This is the first time the gastroenterology department has participated in the milk carton boat races. We would love to do it again next year and race against other GI departments in the area. What better way to get the message out about screening.

The skipper and rowing crew of the S.S. Colon Cruiser (from left):Chris Shepela, MD; Jami Degnan; Sandeep Bahadur, MD; and Clay Ahrens.