Dianna Swatsenbarg could have given up.

The inaugural event of the Stepping Out Against Breast Cancer Coalition, which she helped found in 1993, was a march through South Park on the coldest day of the year. Only about 30 people participated.

But Swatsenbarg, a nurse at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, wasn’t discouraged. The next year she started an annual dance that has raised more than $30,000 for breast cancer treatment and prevention.

Swatsenbarg will be honored for her contributions today as one of 10 winners of “Nursing: The Heart of Healthcare,” an annual award present by the Kansas University School of Nursing.

“I’ve been very humbled by the people I’ve met with the disease,” she said. “They’re some of the strongest people you’ll ever meet. A lot of these people are my neighbors, my friends and the people at the bank. They’re real people with real faces.”

More than 350 people were nominated for the awards, which began in 1989. They will be presented during a banquet tonight at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City, Mo.

The winners are selected by a committee of civic, health care and business leaders and last year’s award recipients.

Swatsenbarg, an Oklahoma native, came to LMH in 1991. She attended nursing school at Tulsa Community College and has bachelor’s degrees in health care management from Ottawa University and communications from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami.

Swatsenbarg’s activism in breast cancer prevention began shortly after she came to LMH. She was having lunch with several co-workers who were talking about the need for better awareness of women’s health issues.

“Some ideas just grew into action,” said Swatsenbarg, who now is an operating room nurse.

Swatsenbarg’s dance raises money to provide mammograms and reference material for LMH’s oncology library. It raised $11,000 last year. This year’s event  which was Oct. 11  raised at least that much, Swatsenbarg said, though final totals haven’t been calculated.

Departments at LMH also compete to have the best basket filled with prizes at the dance. The baskets are given away during a raffle.

Swatsenbarg, 42, said working with breast cancer patients at LMH and through her volunteer work gave her a better understanding of the disease.

“It’s a scary time to go through,” she said. “I feel honored that I get to care for those patients.”

Janie Hayes, director of surgical services at LMH, nominated Swatsenbarg for the award. She said Swatsenbarg didn’t take credit for starting the project.

“By having the idea for the program, the whole hospital and community has become involved,” Hayes said. “It’s a phenomenal thing to have an idea like that and follow through with it.”