Baton Rouge General (BRG) has kicked off its annual Protect Your Pumpkins movement as part of the hospital’s breast cancer awareness campaign promoting annual mammograms for women 40 and older. At the heart of the campaign is 7,500 pink pumpkins that popped up overnight between all three BRG campuses.
The public is invited to visit one of the pink pumpkin patches to take photos and to bring home a pumpkin for free to display in honor of breast cancer awareness. The hospital’s Bluebonnet location will be host to its signature patch, with more than 5,000 pink pumpkins, various photo opps including a hay pyramid, and pink Protect Your Pumpkins t-shirts available for purchase, as supplies last. The Mid City and Ascension locations will feature smaller pink pumpkin patches.
Last October, BRG put a pause to the pumpkin patch out of COVID safety concerns, but the increased breast cancer awareness continued. A new tradition of “Protect Your Pumpkins” yard signs began, popping up around town in the yards of breast cancer survivors and BRG employees. The signs will return this year, and a limited number will be available at the pumpkin patch.
The pink pumpkins are available for free until they are gone. The unique Porcelain Doll pumpkins were cultivated to aid in the fight against breast cancer. Only about 50 farms across the country grow the pink pumpkins, which are part of a national campaign launched in 2012 to encourage people to show unity in the fight to find a cure.
On the Bluebonnet campus, the pumpkin patch is located at the corner of Bluebonnet Blvd. and Picardy Ave. At Mid City, the patch is located on the Florida Blvd. side of the hospital, and at Ascension, the patch is set up on the right side of the facility’s parking lot.