Local Resources

These projects have been selected by our independent Grant Review Panel as those that will have the greatest impact in serving uninsured or underinsured women in our service area. Please note that Susan G. Komen for the Cure® is not a direct service provider.

2012 Grantees

Community Health Mission

Una Mujer a la Vez/One Woman at a Time
Grant Award:  $42,225
Una Mujer a la Vez/ One Woman at a time- is a health education and navigation program that helps African American and Hispanic women to understand all aspects of breast health including breast cancer risk factors, prevention, early detection, screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow up care. The Program will use a grass-roots approach that includes churches, beauty salons, and community centers as sites for education and identification of low- income women. Uninsured women identified during the educational sessions will be referred to Community Health Mission to establish a medical home and receive medical services for chronic conditions, and prevention services such as screening mammograms. Among those women referred to CHM, the Harvard Risk Index will be used to identify women with the higher risk for breast cancer based on the presence of risk factors. The goal of the program is to education at least 300 African American and Latina women using different outreach models and to provide breast cancer screening to 350 uninsured women.

Curtis V. Cooper Primary Health Care, Inc.

CVCPHC- Breast Screening Program
Grant Award:  $30,000
The Curtis V. Cooper Primary Health Center (CVCPHC) is the major provider of comprehensive health care for low income, uninsured, and under-insured residents in Savannah and Chatham County, GA. The Program funding will be utilized directly to provide breast cancer screening (mammograms) for approximately 400 of CVCPHC active medically underserved and uninsured patients (5,186 women between the ages of 40 to 64) that require this critical health care service. The  program will address one critical breast screening need that will contribute to CVCPHC’s overall ability for early detection and positive patient outcomes. It will assist CVCPHC’s mission to provide high quality, affordable, accessible, health care services to all community residents, particularly the underserved in CVCPHC’s target area. 

Liberty County Health Department

Brave II
Grant Award:  $30,750
Liberty County Health Department’s BRAVE (Be Readily Available and Very Empathetic) Project, started in 2010, targeted uninsured and underserved women in rural Liberty County in an effort to encourage them to seek appropriate breast care including monthly self-breast exams, annual mammograms and necessary follow-up and diagnostics. As with the original BRAVE project, a component of BRAVE II will be a support component for women and their families where a volunteer “sisterhood” made up of other women in the community (and also known as the Suzie Q’s) will “just be there” for the woman experiencing abnormal breast issues needing other, more extensive care. To broaden BRAVE’s focus, BRAVE II will enhance access to breast health by offering after-hours and Saturday screening mammogram opportunities in addition to outreach education and screenings. As part of the Liberty County Health Department and in partnership with the Suzie Q sisterhood in our community and Liberty Regional Medical Center, BRAVE II aims to provide a platform for encouragement, hope, and care for all women in Liberty County while at the same time enhancing access to care by providing mammograms and any follow up diagnostics.

The Hearts and Hands Clinic

Women’s Breast Health Awareness Initiative
Grant Award:  $16,000
The Hearts and Hands Clinic, Inc is a non-profit organization providing free primary healthcare including medical, dental, and vision services to the uninsured adult population of Bulloch County whose income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Their mission is not one of enabling, but instead to seek help for individuals as they seek ways to better help themselves. Funds received from the foundation will be used to drive the Women’s Breast Health Initiative that will focus on three core areas including Education/Empowerment, Access to Care, and Case Management. We have a dedicated team of administrative and volunteer medical staff who are dedicated to the success of the program. Their insights along with the evaluation from our other community collaborators will ensure the success of this project. Our goal is to efficiently address one of the most critical needs of our community.  The funding will provide educational for patients throughout Bulloch County, travel expenses to transport  patients to the Imaging Center and the cost of 60 mammograms.

Curtis and Elizabeth Anderson Cancer Institute

at Memorial Health University Medical Center

Memorial Mammograms 2012
Grant Award:  $59,920
Early detection and screening, through mammography and clinical breast exams, improves mortality from breast cancer. Unfortunately access to these services becomes difficult for uninsured and underinsured women. The BCCP program identifies women in need of these services, but unfortunately does not have the needed resources  to provide all of the screening and diagnostics for all the underinsures and uninsured women in the Coastal Health District. Some women are not able to receive the needed screening, due to either age requirements or lack of funding. Utilizing the existing expertise and infrastructure of the BCCP program, the funds requested from Komen Coastal Georgia Affiliate will be available to the appropriate population in need of these breast cancer screening services. More women will benefit from early detection thus decreasing extensive  surgeries and increased mortality from advanced disease.

Support our Survivors Lecture Series
Grant Award:  $15,970
The number of breast cancer survivors continues to grow as medical technology provides additional cancer treatments. However, with these treatments, late effects may occur for the survivor in both physical and psychosocial realms. According to the Institute of Medicine, the late effects experienced by breast cancer survivors include, but are not limited to: cancer recurrence, second primary cancer, psychosocial distress, arm lymphedema, premature menopause and infertility, osteoporosis, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, weight gain, cardiovascular disease, fatigue, and cognitive impairment.
After completion of treatment, women have less contact with their healthcare team and do not have as much guidance as how to cope with these symptoms. Memorial will offer a free, eight part Survivorship Series over the course of a year to provide education support and resources for local breast cancer survivors during the time following their treatment. The series will address the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual aspects of health and will offer women information on creating building blocks to healthy survivorship.

Southeast Georgia Health System

Mammograms in Motion
Grant Award:  $45,000
Mammograms in Motion” is a collaborative community effort led by Southeast Georgia Health System to provide breast health education and outreach, mammograms and diagnostic breast work-up services to uninsured and medically underserved individuals residing in Camden, Glynn, Long and McIntosh counties. This program places special emphasis on outreach in rural settings for individuals who have limited access to healthcare and health education by use of the Health System’s Wellness On Wheels (WOW), a mobile health vehicle outfitted with screening mammography, screening bone density, blood pressure and blood glucose testing capability. Educational materials are made available to a broad base of patients within our greater service areas with the goal of increasing awareness of the importance of breast health. Outreach will be provided thru participation in community health fairs and education forums held in each of the four counties. The focus of our participation is to emphasize the importance of breast self awareness, early detection and available treatment of breast disease.

St. Joseph's/Candler Health System

Mammography Mission for the Disadvantaged
Grant Award:  $45,000
Mammography Mission for the Underserved will provide breast health services at no cost to disparate, underserved patients meeting established financial criteria. Services provided include screening and diagnostic mammograms, breast ultrasound and MRI, image-guided breast cancer biopsies, and case management/patient navigation throughout the continuum of breast cancer detection, care, and survivorship. Through partnership with Community Health Mission, St. Mary Health Center, Good Samaritan Clinic, J.C. Lewis Primary Health Care Center, and Curtis V. Cooper Primary Health Care, intended to identify those at most need, services are provided for all breast imaging needs. The demand from these clinics has increased by greater than 200% since 2009; however, funding has decreased exponentially in the same time frame. This increased demand has created a shortfall. Continued funding from Komen Coastal Georgia, will allow Mammography Mission for the Underserved to continue provision of these crucial, potentially life-saving services.