New Grants Awarded Locally

GREATER ROANOKE VALLEY AFFILIATE OF SUSAN G. KOMEN FOR THE CURE®

AWARDS $158,892 IN GRANTS TO FOUR REGIONAL AGENCIES

Organization’s Community-Based Grants Dedicated to Filling
Unmet Breast Health, Breast Cancer Needs

Roanoke, Va. (November 1, 2010)– Four regional health care agencies have been awarded grants from the Komen Greater Roanoke Valley Affiliate to reduce barriers, increase access and improve outcomes through early detection in screening mammography. The grants will serve women across the Greater Roanoke Valley Affiliate region that are identified as uninsured or underinsured for breast screening services.

The area agencies designated to receive Komen grants include Carilion Clinic Breast Care Center, Roanoke, VA – Martinsville-Henry County Coalition for Health and Wellness, Martinsville, VA – Virginia Department of Health, Mount Rogers Health District, Marion, VA – Rockbridge Area Free Clinic, Lexington, VA. In addition to these health care agencies, the Caring Heart Free Clinic of Patrick County and Project Access of the Roanoke Valley have been awarded extensions for the grants they received in the previous year.  

These grants are awarded specifically to address medically uninsured and/or under-served women in 19 counties which include Roanoke, Botetourt, Montgomery, Bath, Alleghany, Rockbridge, Craig, Giles, Bland, Wythe, Bedford, Franklin, Pulaski, Floyd, Carroll, Grayson, Henry, Pittsylvania and Patrick counties. According to Grants Chair Eileen Lepro, this broadly-based service area is an excellent demonstration of the Affiliate’s aim to reach women throughout Southwest Virginia. “It’s a wonderful feeling knowing we are able to help serve such a large area of Virginia. These agencies are hard at work identifying women who would otherwise go without access to screening mammography. Several of the grants will fund a mobile mammography service that will travel to remote areas to provide on-site screening services.”

The Komen Greater Roanoke Valley Affiliate is part of the 125-member Affiliate network of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting to end breast cancer forever. Local Affiliates serve as the face and voice of Komen’s global breast cancer movement, mobilizing millions of everyday people through activities like the Komen Race for the Cure® Series, the world’s largest and most successful education and fundraising event for breast cancer.

Komen and its Affiliates are known globally for their dedication to filling existing gaps in breast health and breast cancer needs. To make sure they are addressing needs that no one else is meeting in their own service areas, Komen Affiliates work with local medical experts and community leaders to conduct comprehensive community needs assessments. These community profiles are then used to establish local grant application and review processes consistent with Komen's promise to save lives and end breast cancer forever.

Komen Greater Roanoke Valley Affiliate President Bob Williams, MD, cites the community needs profile researched by the area Affiliate, which points to the gap for screening mammography services. According to the Virginia Department of Health, only three quarters of women surveyed reported having mammograms in the last two years.[1] Local statistics show the following in terms of screening mammography: “Of the 210,385 women age forty and over in our service area, it is estimated that only 61.6 percent had their mammograms during the prior 12 months. Thirty – eight percent of women in our Affiliate’s service area have not had their annual mammograms, which means that 80,787 women did not have their annual mammograms in our service area,” Williams says. “These grant awards reach the heart of our mission within the Affiliate – to avail women of this potentially life-saving screening test.”

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About Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Komen Greater Roanoke Valley Affiliate

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and launched the global breast cancer movement. The Greater Roanoke Valley Affiliate of Komen for the Cure is working to better the lives of those facing breast cancers in the local community by joining more than 1 million breast cancer survivors and activists around the globe as part of the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting breast cancer. Up to 75 percent of net proceeds generated by the Affiliate stay in the Roanoke Valley Area. The remaining income goes to the national Susan G. Komen for the Cure Grants Program to fund research. For more information, visit vwww.komenvablueridge.org.

[1] Women's Health Virginia 2004, US Department of Health and Human Services (HRSA) and the Virginia Department of Health (VDH).