LONG ISLAND MEDICAL FOUNDATION RECEIVES $122,000 AVON FOUNDATION GRANT TO SUPPORT PATIENT NAVIGATION AT NUMC’S BREAST CENTER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2010
PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055
LONG ISLAND MEDICAL FOUNDATION RECEIVES $122,000 AVON FOUNDATION GRANT TO SUPPORT PATIENT NAVIGATION AT NUMC’S BREAST CENTER
More than 3,900 Men and Women Participated in the 39.3-mile Walk that raised $9.4Million;
16 Local Breast Cancer Organizations Receive Grants
East Meadow, NY…Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO of the NuHealth System, announced that its philanthropic arm, the Long Island Medical Foundation (LIMF) had received a $122,000 grant from the Avon Foundation to help support patient navigation at the Nassau University Medical Center’s Breast Center. Chris Mancuso, RN, nurse coordinator for NUMC’s breast screening program, accepted the check at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer closing ceremony on Sunday October 17, 2010.
“We are grateful to the Avon Foundation for Women, for providing the NUMC breast center with a generous grant of $122,000, to help us better serve our uninsured and underinsured breast center patients and help to save lives through a patient navigation program,” said Gianelli. “These funds will assist us in ensuring that all women continue to have access to quality breast services and care, regardless of their ability to pay. By beginning the navigation process in the community, our aim is to recruit and enroll women right in their neighborhoods for our screening program.”
“This is wonderful news and women will benefit, as a result of the Avon Gant for the patient navigation program. Women will be enrolled into the screening program and provided with a convenient appointment on our mammography van,” said Chris Mancuso, RN. “This early connection to the screening process will allow our patients to begin to develop a trust and understanding of the breast health care process. The navigator will then become a resource that the client will know and trust for her appointments and follow up exams if need be.”
The eighth annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer season continued with the Avon Walk New York this past weekend, which raised more than $9.4 million to advance access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer. The Avon Walk New York, the eighth of nine Avon Walks this year, attracted more than 3,900 participants from 46 states and Washington, D.C. – as well as the United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada and Bermuda – including 420 breast cancer survivors, who joined together to raise lifesaving funds and awareness for breast cancer.
President of Avon Products North America, Geralyn Breig, who walked with a team of Avon employees that raised $250,000, announced during the Closing Ceremony a total of nearly $10 million in grants to 16 local organizations, ensuring the funds raised immediately benefit the community. The Avon Foundation awarded the grants from the funds raised at the Avon Walk New York and the eight other Avon Walks across the country; more grants will be awarded throughout the year to additional local and national breast cancer programs.
“These organizations are doing cutting-edge research and offering services to patients regardless of their ability to pay. The new grants we present today will literally help them save lives,” said Breig. “Our beneficiaries are changing the course of breast cancer – here in New York, across the country, and around the world. We are so pleased that to date, the Avon Foundation for Women has awarded more than $55 million to breast cancer organizations in the New York area over the years.”
Following are the New York area grants announced at the Closing Ceremony:
• Young Survival Coalition received $85,000 to support efforts to educate the medical, research and breast cancer communities about the unique needs of breast cancer patients under the age of 40.
• God’s Love We Deliver received $200,000 to provide nutrition education and meals to breast cancer patients and their families.
• The Fund for Public Health New York received $80,000 to support a city-wide study to develop policy and program interventions to improve the quality of breast cancer care and access to services for medically underserved women.
• Roswell Park Alliance Foundation received $130,000 to study whether a specific antigen produced by triple negative breast cancer can be used to create therapies that reduce recurrence rates and improve outcomes in people with this aggressive type of cancer.
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center received $300,000 to develop a test panel of genes that can identify breast cancer patients at high risk for metastasis to help determine the aggressiveness of treatment needed.
• The Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Center at New York Presbyterian-Columbia University Medical Center – one of eight Avon Breast Centers across the United States – received $1,020,000. The grant will continue to fund care for thousands of underserved women in a state-of-the art mammography center, and will support breast cancer research, clinical trials and imaging fellowships.
Eight grants that further strengthen the Avon Safety Net program in the New York region were also awarded. Avon’s Safety Net currently funds more than 100 hospitals across the country to ensure that all women have access to quality breast cancer services and care, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. The grants included:
• You Can Thrive Foundation received $70,000 to support access to holistic, complementary and alternative care for low income breast cancer patients.
• Breast Treatment Task Force received $80,000 for patient navigation services.
• Brookdale Hospital Medical Center received $90,000 for a patient navigation program targeting African American and Caribbean American women in Brooklyn.
• Northern Westchester Hospital received $110,000 to provide diagnostic and care navigation for Latina populations.
• Long Island Medical Foundation received $122,000 to support patient navigation in Nassau County.
• Newark Beth Israel Hospital received $125,000 to extend patient navigation in Newark.
• Metropolitan Hospital Center received $150,000 to provide coordinated breast health education, navigation and care in Harlem.
• Avon Safety Net Program at Bellevue Hospital, a program of the NYU Cancer Center and Bellevue Collaborative, received $275,000.
At the check presentation, Chris Mancuso, RN, was joined by Marc Hurlbert, PhD, executive director of the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade and executive secretary to the Avon Foundation Scientific Advisor Board.
ABOUT THE AVON WALK FOR BREAST CANCER
The Avon Walks series launched in 2003 and through mid-2010 the Avon Walks have raised more than $380 million through the dedication of more than 120,000 participating women and men. The Avon Walk New York is the eighth of nine 2010 Avon Walks, following successful events in Houston, TX; Washington, D.C.; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Rocky Mountains, CO; San Francisco, CA; and Santa Barbara, CA; that have raised more than $60 million so far.
ABOUT LONG ISLAND MEDICAL FOUNDATION
The Long Island Medical Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the NuHealth System, which includes the Nassau University Medical Center, the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility, and six Family Health Centers. The Foundation’s mission is to inspire philanthropic support by raising awareness of the critical role these institutions play in caring for many of Long Island’s most vulnerable populations. The foundation’s sole responsibility is to help NuHealth achieve its public mission. Gifts to the foundation ensure that NuHealth’s centers of care can grow and evolve to bring health care to everyone at every stage of life.
ABOUT NUHEALTH
NuHealth is a Long Island health care organization delivering essential medical care and disease and lifestyle management to everyone at every stage of life. Also known as Nassau Health Care Corporation, NuHealth is a public benefit corporation managing the operations of Nassau Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care and a network of Family Health Centers that bring primary and specialty care out into the community. By emphasizing wellness, cultural sensitivity and collaborative efforts with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, NuHealth is working to make good care more affordable and easier to access.
For more information about NuHealth or its Centers of Care, visit www.nuhealth.net.
