Providence St. Mary Medical Center has received a grant of nearly $29,000 from the Susan G. Komen Foundation of Eastern Washington that will fund advances in breast cancer prevention for women in the Walla Walla Valley. The grant will supplement the hospital’s Life Saver Fund — which provides free mammograms to low-income women — by increasing the scope of its services and increasing outreach to the local Hispanic population.
Specifically, the Susan G. Koman grant — in conjunction with a $2,200 grant from the Blue Mountain Community Foundation — will fund biopsies when they are needed among low-income women, which the Life Saver Fund was previously unable to cover. Likewise, breast cancer has historically been detected later among Hispanic women, and the grant enabled the hospital to hire a bilingual outreach nurse to will work with local Hispanic women to ensure they are getting crucial mammograms.
For many uninsured and low-income women, screening mammograms are an out-of-reach expense, and these grant funds will help women in the Walla Walla Valley stay healthy. If doctors diagnose breast cancer, early detection can be a life-saver.
Click here to read more in the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. (Tim Pfarr)
