Women in need of assistance for mammograms or support while fighting breast cancer will benefit from three grants provided by Susan G. Komen for the Cure to Covenant Joe Arrington Cancer Research and Treatment Center (JACC).
The Chorus of Angels program at JACC received $28,700 to provide assistance to breast cancer patients through lodging, transportation and medication resources. The program was founded in 1996, shortly after JACC opened, by staff and physicians who started raising money to help patients who were struggling financially during their treatment. The Chorus of Angels program is supported by donations, memorials, fundraisers and grants.
It provides around $8,500 a month to assist cancer patients who otherwise would be unable to complete their treatment. In 2010, the program assisted 294 patients with financial hardships.
The mobile mammography program received $75,810.30 to provide screening mammograms, diagnostic services and breast health education to women in Lubbock County. Mobile Mammography is one of Covenant’s outreach programs to provide mammography screenings to women ages 40 and older.
The mobile mammography program began in 1980 as the vision of Sister Katherine, one of the original sisters of St. Mary of the Plains Hospital, now Covenant Women’s and Children’s. The mobile unit is staffed by two registered female X-ray technologists and travels to a different location daily within a 100-mile radius of Lubbock. In 2010, the mobile mammography unit performed 1,563 screenings for women.
The third grant for $6,623 will benefit a Breast Cancer Survivorship Program. The money will be used to develop a breast cancer survivorship program for persons diagnosed with breast cancer and their caregivers.
The program will help program participants assimilate and adjust to personal changes brought about by breast cancer diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. Using the Change Cycle Model, participants will be able to identify the feelings, thoughts and behaviors associated with six definable stages of change and learn effective, efficient and timely life skills to use as they navigate changes faced as a breast cancer survivor or caregiver.
Four workshops will be offered during the grant year. The survivorship program will be tailored to each patient as a unique individual with a customized educational package regarding future risks, medical surveillance guidelines and directed navigation to health professional services and survivorship resources.