(Camden, New Jersey) Breast cancer screening provides an opportunity to save someone’s sister, wife, mother, daughter or companion. To help underinsured and uninsured women fight breast cancer, the New Jersey Cancer Education and Early Detection Program at Cooper (Cooper CEED) provides education, free mammograms and clinical breast exams, follow-up care, and support.
A renewal grant for $30,000 from the Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund will enable Cooper’s CEED program to continue it’s outreach to underserved women who live in Camden and the surrounding areas. This is the second year this grant is funded by the Avon Foundation, after having educated 568 women the first year, as well as provided 301 breast exams and 226 mammograms in 2008.
In the upcoming year, Cooper’s CEED will invite Camden County women to host “breast health parties” in their homes, community centers or churches. Trained nurses and outreach workers will explain through educational games the importance of early detection, provide information for obtaining free screenings for the uninsured, educate on risks for breast cancers and discuss community myths.
“Community myths about breast cancer frequently prevent women from obtaining life-saving screening tests. Through this grant, the women involved are active participants in an education-learning program that is fun in the company of other women like themselves. We are extremely grateful that the Avon Foundation shares our commitment to this important cause,” says Evelyn Robles-Rodriguez, R.N., M.S.N., and Director of Oncology Outreach Programs at Cooper.
Since 1993, Cooper’s CEED has been working to help save the lives of underinsured and uninsured women and men in Camden and surrounding communities. Through the program, more than 8,500 women have been screened for breast cancer and 117 cancers have been detected and treated in these women. Last year, the program screened over 1,300 women for breast and cervical cancers, and 150 men for prostate cancer. Fourteen of the women were discovered to have breast cancer.
“Each effort by CEED at Cooper represents another unique lifesaving opportunity,” says Generosa Grana, M.D., Director of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey at Cooper. “This grant will take us further in our endeavors to help save women’s lives.”
Robles-Rodriguez says, “Hosting a party in your community could help save your life, a family member’s life, or one of your friends. If you are not insured, cost is not a reason for not receiving breast cancer screening. The CEED programs cover tests from screening to diagnosis at no cost.”
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Cooper University Hospital is the flagship of The Cooper Health System. It is the premier university hospital serving South Jersey and the Delaware Valley. As the core clinical campus for the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Camden, Cooper is a national leader in medical education and research. With its comprehensive services and cutting-edge technology, the hospital is renowned for its prestigious Centers of Excellence in cardiology, cancer, critical care, trauma, orthopedics and neurology. Cooper has embarked on a $500 million expansion of its Camden Health Care Campus including a new $220 million patient Pavilion which opened in December 2008. Cooper and its community partners earned a 2008 Smart Growth Award from New Jersey Future for the vision of the Health Sciences Campus in Camden.
The Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund:
The Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund is administered by Cicatelli Associates Inc. to support community-based, non-profit breast health programs across the country. The Fund’s National Advisory Board selected the New Jersey Cancer Education and Early Detection Program at Cooper (Cooper CEED) as one of 117 new grant recipients nationwide in the 2007 cycle of Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund grants. These organizations were chosen based on their ability to effectively reach women, particularly minority, low-income, and older women, who are often medically underserved. Since 1993, the Avon Foundation has awarded more than 1,000 grants to community breast health programs across the U.S. dedicated to educating underserved women about breast cancer and linking them to early detection screening services. To learn more about the Avon Foundation, call 1-866-505-AVON or visit www.avonfoundation.org, where you can also access the free printable Breast Health Resource Guide in English and Spanish
Particularly insightful….look forwards to coming back again.