2009 Grant Awards
Affiliated Community Health Foundation, Willmar, MN. Project Title: Women’s Breast Cancer Awareness Outreach. Year 4 project will continue to increase breast cancer awareness regarding the importance of early detection of breast cancer. Community outreach and promotion activities will be conducted in the following eleven Minnesota counties: Big Stone, Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Lyon, Meeker, Pope, Redwood, Swift and Yellow Medicine. Women 40 and older are not aware that early detection is crucial to survivorship and may not receive yearly mammograms as recommended. Building that awareness and increasing the mammography count will be the project focus. The goal for Year 4 will be to contact 2,800 women in outreach efforts to increase mammography. Grant Award $99,998.00
Angel Foundation, Bloomington, MN. Project Title: Financial Assistance Program. Funding will be used to provide emergency financial assistance for unmet non-medical needs (rent/mortgage, groceries, phone/utility payments, gas/bus vouchers to and from treatment) to qualifying breast cancer survivors in the 7-county metro area. In addition, the foundation’s free education and support through its Facing Cancer Together (FaCT) program focuses on strength-based, solution-focused needs of the entire family. There are special programs, including a 2-day Kids Kamp in August, for children 5 – 18 who have a parent or grandparent with cancer. Grant Award $100,000.00
Humphrey Cancer Center, Robbinsdale, MN, Project Title: A Clinical System for Identifying Patients at High Risk of Hereditary Cancers. Up to 10% of breast cancer cases in Minnesota are due to hereditary causes. Unfortunately, many women and their families are unaware that they are at risk and they develop cancers which could have been prevented by specialized screening or surgery. Humphrey Cancer Center previously developed a system, called GenTri, which screens the family histories of cancer center patients to detect those at highest genetic risk. They now plan to implement a completely automated version of GenTri in their cancer centers. In addition, they plan to test the use of this program at breast centers, for women receiving annual mammograms. This will help them to ensure that these families are offered genetic risk assessment and genetic counseling, and that they can benefit from healthcare which will reduce their risk of future cancers. Grant Award $100,000.00
Minnesota International Health Volunteers, Minneapolis, MN. Project Title: Somali Women’s Breast Cancer Project. Minnesota is home to the largest concentration of Somalis in North America. For the past several years, Minnesota International Health Volunteers (MIHV) has been successfully working to educate Somali women in Minneapolis and St. Paul, using a home model that provides culturally appropriate breast health education via community health workers. To date, the project has reached more than 950 women. The home visit model includes a follow-up mechanism that measures the long-term impact of home visits and has determined a mammography rate of 78% among women age 40 and older. The positive feedback received and successes identified by the follow-up data have led MIHV to plan expanding its individualized breast cancer outreach into suburban neighborhoods where many Somali women are now living. MIHV believes it is important to reach Somali women throughout the state, provide them with accurate breast health knowledge, and assist them to access services. Grant Award $100,000.00
North Memorial Health Care, Robbinsdale, MN, Project Title: Pay It Forward Fund for Breast Cancer. The Pay It Forward Fund will provide emergency financial assistance (up to $1,500) for unmet need of women who are recovering from breast cancer in north Minneapolis and the northwest quadrant of the Twin Cities. The program allows women to focus on getting better by eliminating the added stress of unpaid bills. Patients access this program through a Clinical Nurse Specialist of the Humphrey Cancer Centers which serve 70% of the cancer patients in the northwest quadrant of the Twin Cities and has clinics at North Memorial, Mercy, Unity and Monticello-Big Lake hospitals. He fund is administered through the North Memorial Foundation which charges no administrative fee to process checks (paid directly to creditors), monitor and evaluate this program. Grant Award $100,000.00
NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, Project Title: Breast Cancer Outreach and Support to Women of Color in North Minneapolis. The project will promote breast health education and the need for mammography to women of color in North Minneapolis. NorthPoint will use several strategies to reach women including hosting four culturally specific “See, Test and Treat Events” targeted to Hmong couples, Somali couples, Latina women/couples and African American women/couples. In addition, NorthPoint’s certified community health workers will make presentations about breast health at various community locations including houses of worship, community centers, health fairs and other events. NorthPoint will also develop and provide training to community volunteers to support women of color diagnosed with breast cancer. Grant Award $89,603.00
Open Arms of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Project Title: Evaluate, Enhance, and Expand Open Arms’ Breast Cancer Program. Open Arms of Minnesota is the only nonprofit organization in the state that prepares and delivers free meals designed to meet the nutritional needs of individuals living disease, including breast cancer. Open Arms’ staff developed a specific menu for breast cancer clients, introduced Nausea Care Packs to alleviate nausea, and frozen meal delivery system that eliminated food smells from entering clients’ homes. Recently organic foods have been incorporated into the menus. These innovations have made Open Arms a model nutrition organization recognized around the country. In its fifth year serving women with breast cancer, Open Arms will launch an initiative to evaluate, further enhance, an expanded service. Clients, caregivers and referral sources will be surveyed and participate in focus groups to gather quantitative and qualitative data. An outreach specialist will strength relationships with referral sources which will result in a 25% increase in clients served. Grant Award $85,258.00
Southside Community Health Services, Inc., Minneapolis, MN. Project Title: Southside Breast Cancer Education, Awareness & Screening Program. (SCHS) recognizes that mortality disparities in breast cancer exist for Women of Color. SCHS believes that lack of awareness is a killer and ignorance is no excuse. Due to lack of awareness, lack of health insurance, and inaccessibility to screening facilities, these underserved women in our service area neighborhoods experience a low detection rate, therefore, directly increasing their susceptibility to breast cancer related deaths. SCHS Breast Cancer Program is designed to reach the medically underserved, especially Women of Color including lesbian women, in south Minneapolis’s, nine poorest neighborhoods of Lyndale, Corcoran, Standish, Bryant, Central, Powderhorn, Whittier, Bankcroft and Phillips, and pockets of poverty in Stillwater/Washington County and inform them that as minority-status women, they are especially at-risk for poorer breast cancer outcomes and educate them as to the need for early screening, diagnosis and treatment. Further, through education geared towards proactive lifestyle changes, they can be empowered to make healthy choices and become their own advocates. This education will be accomplished through local media advertising providing information at the myriad of community events and health fairs in which SCHS participates, point of contact literature at SCHS clinics, in-clinic education on breast self-examination techniques and nutrition education. SCHS will be the lead agency in a collaborative effort with African-American Family Services, La Familia Guidance Center. The collaborative expects to provide breast cancer screening, breast health awareness education and breast self-examination technique training to 2,400 clients. Grant Award $49,350.00
Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, Project Title: Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Outreach. Breast Cancer is the second most common type of cancer among Vietnamese American women, and there is increasing concern that breast cancer risks are rising as Vietnamese American women become more acculturated. But screening rates for Vietnamese American women continue to be low because of language, cultural, and economic barriers. Vietnamese Social Services has provided breast cancer education and screening access services for Vietnamese women in the Twin Cities for the past seven years. More recently, the program expanded its outreach to other underserved groups: Vietnamese women in St. Cloud, and Chinese-Vietnamese and Karen women in the Twin Cities (the Karen are an ethnic minority in Myanmar). These populations are particularly hard to reach because they are new to the country, socially isolated, and/or geographically mobile. The funds will be used to help sustain and build on their work with these groups. Goals for 2009 are to: 1) increase awareness for 1,000 women from the target communities through an education and media campaign; and 2) secure screening for 110 women in St. Cloud and the Twin Cities. Vietnamese Social Services will expand their work in providing breast cancer survivorship support by developing support groups and individual mentoring services. Grant Award $64,020.00
West Side Community Health Services, St. Paul, MN, Project Title: Breast Health Program Expansion. This project will expand the successful Breast Health Program at West Side Community Health Services (WSCHS) to additional WSCHS primary care clinics in medically underserved communities in St. Paul: East Side Family Clinic and McDonough Homes Clinic. This expansion will bring the effective practices and services now available at WSCHS’ LaClinica site to two sites serving high numbers of Latina, Hmong, African-American, African-immigrant women, as well as public housing residence from the McDonough public housing development. They expect to serve approximately 900 women through culturally appropriate and targeted outreach, education, and case management services. Grant Award $100,000.00
YWCA of Duluth, Duluth, MN, Project Title: Breast Cancer Advocacy Project. The project will provide community outreach and advocacy to bring breast health services to medically underserved women, including women of color, lesbian women, and women who have no income and/or insurance. The project conducts community outreach to support regular mammography, clinical breast exam, monthly breast self-examination, and yearly reminders. The project works to strengthen partnerships with local medical providers and organizations that provide services to low-income and under/uninsured women to reduce barriers that keep women from getting breast cancer screening. Periodic “Barrier Busting” meetings are held in collaboration with the Fond du Lac Reservation (FDL), the Young Survivor Coalition (YSC), and leaders from communities of color and lesbian organizations to address barriers in accessing regular breast health care with local providers. At these meetings, women share their stories about what keeps them from accessing services to expand the providers knowledge and the women receive prevention resource information. Advocacy is also provided to women in accessing breast health care and follow-up services when there is literacy or language barriers, advocacy for consideration of cultural barriers, and transportation issues. Additional advocacy services and support is provided to women diagnosed with an abnormal result or breast cancer diagnosis. Project serves the Duluth area, as well as the neighboring rural counties of Carlton, Lake, Cook and Koochiching in Northern Minnesota. Grant Award $30,000.00
Young Survival Coalition, Duluth, MN, Project Title: Young Women Affected by Breast Cancer Outreach. The Young Survival Coalition (YSC) will work through action, advocacy and awareness to educate the medical, legislative, public health and research communities and persuade them to address breast cancer in premenopausal women. Tools developed specifically for diagnoses in treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal women are limited or nonexistent. Recent studies reflect higher risk of recurrence, permanent loss of fertility, and poorer prognosis for premenopausal than postmenopausal women. These young women feel isolated and seek a community of information, resources and support specific to their disease and unique needs. YSC Duluth will provide the services and resources for these young women affected by breast cancer. Grant Award $30,331.50
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 $275,000.00
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 $230,000.00
Susan G. Komen for the Cure, National Headquarters - Annual payment for Medical Research. Total payment $553,722.72
TOTAL AWARDED $2,007,283.22
