Affiliated Community Health Foundation – The title of the project is Women’s Breast Cancer Awareness Outreach. The Women’s Breast Cancer Awareness Outreach project will increase breast cancer awareness/prevention through education/screening services for underserved women in eleven Minnesota counties: Big Stone, Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Lyon, Meeker, Pope, Redwood, Renville, Swift and Yellow Medicine. Over half of the women in this region eligible for regular mammograms do not receive them. Outreach and various promotion activities in each community will serve to increase the number of women getting mammograms and clinical breast exams. The project will focus on women who are not aware of breast cancer screening services, those whose insurance costs have large deductibles that discourage preventative care, new immigrants to the region, elderly where finances and/or transportation acts as a barrier and others who for a variety of reasons do not receive breast screening through other programs. Grant Award $88,198.00
Cass Lake Indian Health Service Unit – The title of the project is Women’s Circle of Life Project. This project promotes breast health education and breast cancer screening to Native American Women at the Cass Lake Indian Health Service Unit. The project will encourage Native American women 30 years and older to get regular clinical breast exams and mammograms as recommended by the American Cancer Society. Current studies show Natïve American Women living in the Bemidji Indian Health Service area have a higher breast cancer death rate than is seen in the general population of the United States. Native American Women will benefit from this project by being given the opportunity to make an informed choice about their health and by increasing breast cancer awareness. Grant Award $49,100.00
Humphrey Cancer Center – The title of the project is Improving the Delivery of Genetic Services to Minnesota Women with Breast Cancer. Funds from this grant will be used to develop and implement a clinic-wide system to identify and refer women who could benefit from genetic services. Breast cancer patients who receive care through the three clinics of the Humphrey Cancer Center will enter their family histories into a collection tool and will be assessed for their chance of inherited cancer. The goal of this project is to identify women who could benefit from genetic risk assessment and genetic counseling, and to offer them these services. This process can be of great value to women to help them prevent cancers in themselves and their families. Grant Award $100,000.00
Minnesota International Health Volunteers (MIHV) – The title of the project is Somali Women’s Breast Cancer Project. Somalis face many challenges as they settle in Minnesota (the “Somali capital of the U.S.”) with population estimates from 20,000-60,000. In addition to dealing with the trauma and stress of civil war and resettlement, Somalis face many challenges as they settle in Minnesota such as accessing health care. Many Somali women are not aware of breast cancer, the risk factors associated with the disease and the options that are open to them in terms of prevention and screening. The Somali Women’s Breast Cancer Project will reduce breast health disparities among Somali women living in the Twin Cities through a combination of educational outreach, breast cancer screening, and referrals for treatment. Trained Somali Community Health Workers will increase knowledge about the disease as well as ensure that women 40 and above receive mammograms on an annual basis. Grant Award $100,000.00
North Memorial Health Care – The title of the project is Digital Mammography. Funds to be used toward the purchase of a full field digital mammography unit. The equipment will allow immediate digital images, without the limitations and delays involved in traditional x-ray film, to be read or manipulated reducing the need for additional imaging and return appointments. Grant Award $100,000.00
Open Arms of Minnesota – The title of the project is Nutritious Meals for Women with Breast Cancer and Children and Caregivers. Since 1986, Open Arms has prepared and delivered nutritious meals to people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2005 Open Arms, through a grant provided by the Minnesota Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, created a pilot program to provide this same service to women in treatment with breast cancer. Based on findings from last year’s pilot, Open Arms will fully incorporate women with breast cancer, their dependent children and affected caregivers into its permanent ongoing program. Funds will be used to scale up its service to this population, preparing and delivering meals to between 75 and 100 women in treatment for breast cancer. A cook will be hired to work with Open Arms’ registered dietitian and client services to design special menus that meet the nutritional needs of these clients while also taking into consideration issues around food tolerance. Additional volunteers will be recruited to prepare and package as many as 12,000 additional meals. Grant Award $77,686.00
Regions Hospital Foundation – The title of the project is Full Field Digital Mammography. Funds to be used toward the purchase of a full field digital mammography unit for the screening and diagnosis of breast cancer. The new equipment will also cut exam times in half, use lower radiation doses, compress breasts less, lead to productivity gains for technologists and enhance collaboration between multiple radiologists. Grant Award $100,000.00
Southside Community Health Services, Inc. – The title of the project is Southside/Central Minneapolis Breast Cancer Collaborative Program. Funds will be used for a breast cancer program that is designed to reach the medically underserved, especially women of color, including lesbian women in south Minneapolis’s nine poorest neighborhoods and pockets of poverty in Stillwater/Washington County. This program will inform the women that, as minority-status women, they are especially at risk or poorer breast cancer outcomes and educate them as to the need for screening, early diagnosis and treatment. Southside Community Health Services will be the lead agency in this collaborative effort with African-American Family Services, GENESIS II For Women and La Familia Guidance Center. Grant Award is $78,500.00
St. James Health Services - The title of the project is Digital Mammography in a Rural Setting. Funds to be used toward the purchase of a full field digital mammography unit for the screening and diagnosis of breast cancer. Minnesota counties served: Watonwan, Cottonwood, Martin and Brown. Grant Award $100,000.00
Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota – The title of the project is Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Outreach Project. Vietnamese Social Services has provided breast cancer education and screening access services for Vietnamese women in the Twin Cities for the past four years. In 2005, their efforts were expanded to include outreach to Vietnamese women in the St. Cloud, and Chinese-Vietnamese and KaRen women in the Twin Cities (the KaRen are an ethnic minority in Myanmar.) The funds requested will be used to help sustain and build upon this effort. The project will primarily serve uninsured, low-income women with low levels of education, low English skills, and cultural barriers to health care access. Grant Award $30,000.00
White Earth Health Center – The title of the project is White Earth Pink Circle Project. This project will work to promote breast health through education and breast cancer screening for Native American women. The White Earth Health Center is located on the White Earth Indian Reservation and is part of the Indian Health Service. The Reservation covers 1,296 square miles in northwest-central Minnesota and serves Native American people residing in Becker, Clearwater, Mahnomen, and portions of Polk and Norman counties. The purpose of the project is to encourage Native American women ages 20 to 39 years of age to get clinical breast exams every three years and yearly mammograms for women 40 and older as recommended by the American Cancer Society. Native American women will benefit from this project by being given the education and opportunity to make an informed choice about their health, and by increasing their awareness about breast cancer. Grant Award $50,000.00
University of Minnesota Cancer Center - The title of the project is Breast Magnetic Resonance Assessment of Tumor Viability After Radiofrequency Ablation. Medical research. Grant Award $250,000.00
Minnesota Department of Health, SAGE Screening Program - The title of the program is Breast Cancer Screening Program. The program provides mammograms to medically underserved women in the state of Minnesota. Grant Award $250,140.00
Minnesota Department of Health, SAGE Screening Program - The program provides direct medical services for secondary breast cancer screening and basic treatment for underserved Minnesotans. Grant Award $457,374.28
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation National Headquarters - Annual payment for Medical Research. Total payment $ 458,736.22
TOTAL AWARDED $2,289,734.50