St. Joseph's/Candler receives $50,000 grant for mobile mammography outreach

Paul P. Hinchey
President & CEO
St. Joseph’s/Candler

Betsy Yates
Marketing & Public Relations
(912) 819-8139
yatesb@sjchs.org

October 21, 2005

The Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion at St. Joseph’s/Candler has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Georgia Cancer Coalition for the education and screening of medically indigent women in Chatham, Bryan, and Effingham counties.

Thirty-five applicants submitted requests for proposals to the Georgia Cancer Coalition for the Georgia Breast Cancer License Tag Fund. Money collected from breast cancer awareness car license plate tag sales are targeted to fund cancer related programs that help breast cancer patients with special financial needs. Programs include education, breast cancer screenings, outreach and access.

The Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion will use the money to expand services of the mobile mammography unit, The Screen Machine, to reach indigent women in our service area to include both urban and rural populations. Currently, 20 percent of the women screened on the Unit are medically indigent. The health system will use the grant funding to reach 25 percent more of these women, which could mean an additional 70 indigent women could be screened within the next year.

The expansion will help women living in minority neighborhoods served by the health system’s St. Mary’s Community Center in the Cuyler Brownville Neighborhood and the African-American Health Information & Resource Center. It will also benefit rural residents living in Effingham and Bryan Counties, who are served by St. Joseph’s/Candler Medical Group – Pembroke and St. Joseph’s/Candler Medical Group – Rincon. Facilitation of access to help underserved populations living in these areas will be aided by the Latin American Services Organization (LASO), Community Healthcare Center, and the J.C. Lewis Health Center.

The Georgia Department of Community Health contracts with the Coalition to administer the grant program. The grant period begins Nov. 1, 2005 and concludes Oct. 31, 2006.


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