Pink-4-Ever Ending Disparities

Awareness & Education - Our largest initiative in this area is the Breast Health Summit (BHS). BHS offers education workshops, activities, and connections to resources for breast cancer survivors, health providers, caregivers, researchers, advocates and policy makers. The Summit is an integral part of our continuous efforts to engage community stakeholders to work collaboratively to improve access to timely and more effective breast cancer screenings, tests and treatments, especially for Black women, who disproportionately suffer poor breast cancer outsomes. The current and long term objectives are the same. This program serves 235 individuals and includes 6 education sessions. In addition to BHS, we offer support groups and train students to serve as our mission ambassadors. We are planning the launch of a new initiative that gives breast cancer survivors and their families opportunities to engage in activities that reduce breast cancer risk.

Research Initiatives - The current and long-term objective of this program is to partner and collaborate with clinical and academic researchers who are seeking to understandy why Black women are diagnosed with breast cancer at an earlier age and at a later disease stage and die at a higher rate than White women and who are developing better prevention and treatment strategies, especially for black women. Armed with research data and information, we then design and implement community-based and health care system based interventions to combat barriers to access and address gaps in services. Funded projects are still on-going. It is unknown how many project participatnts will be enrolled. There will be three training sessions for breast health advocates assisting with the research projects.

Support and Empowerment - Our largest initiative in this area is Breast Health Advocates (BHA) - We train women to serve as breast health advocates within the community. Trained advocates provide breast health information through outreach events, one-on-one interactions and formal education sessions. Advocates also administering personal breast cancer risk assessments, connecting women with organization and community resources, and providing support for women throughout the breast health continuum of care. This program serves 964 individuals and has 18 education sessions. In addition to BHA, we assist families who experience financial burdens as a result of breast cancer and provide for free mammograms for women who are uninsured or insurance does not cover the cost of mammograms. This year, we have provided 21 mammograms and provided financial assistance to 15 families.