Kapiolani Women’s Center awarded $25,000 grant

The Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund has awarded a $25,000 one-year grant to Kapiolani Women’s Center to increase awareness of the life-saving benefits of early detection of breast and cervical cancer. It is the seventh year that the program has received Avon Foundation funding to support its work on these important health issues and in recognition of the excellence of the program.

The Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program at Kapiolani Women’s Center will educate women from urban and rural areas of Oahu and refer them to low-cost or free mammography services and clinical breast exams in their own communities. This vital program will also provide free breast and cervical cancer screening for low-income and uninsured women.

Since January 2002, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program at the Kapiolani Breast Center has reached more than 20,000 women with information about the importance of early detection of breast cancer. The Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program at the Kapiolani Breast Center has referred over 2,000 women for screening mammograms and clinical breast exams.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women in the U.S., and the leading single cause of death overall in women between the ages of 40 and 55. Based upon 2008 data from the American Cancer Society, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program anticipates that 840 new cases of breast cancer will be detected in Hawaii this year and 130 lives will be lost. Nationwide, there is a new diagnosis every three minutes and a death from breast cancer every 14 minutes. While advances have been made in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure, early detection still affords the best opportunity for successful treatment. Programs such as the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program help ensure that all women have access to early detection information and options, even poor and medically underserved women.

“We are proud that the Avon Foundation shares our mission and has chosen to support our program,” says Cynthia Hartwell, Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, Kapiolani Women’s Center. “With these funds we will be able to provide outreach services into rural communities like Waianae and Waimanalo in attempt to educate and inform women about breast health and important women’s health services.”

The Avon Foundation has funded more than 1,000 community-based breast health programs across the United States in the past twelve years, including the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program at Kapiolani Women’s Center. These programs are dedicated to educating underserved women about breast cancer and linking them to early detection screening services.

For more information on the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program at Kapiolani Women’s Center, please call Cynthia Hartwell, WHNP-BC at 808-973-4764 or Pat Oshiro at 808-973-3015.  For more information about breast cancer, contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 or www.cancer.org, or the National Cancer Institute at 1-800-4-CANCER or www.cancer.gov.