VNA Health Care gets grant from American Cancer Society, NFL to tackle breast cancer
Aurora, IL - September 29, 2015 - The National Football League's A Crucial Catch Initiative has provided another year of funding to support increased access to breast cancer education and screening resources in underserved communities through the American Cancer Society.
As a result of funding, the Society has awarded a $50,000 Community Health Advocates implementing National Grants for Empowerment grant to VNA Health Care to increase breast cancer screening rates within Aurora.
VNA Health Care was one of 32 grant recipients to receive grant funding to implement strategies to address the unequal burden of breast cancer within communities across the country.
"The CHANGE grant comes at a time when our state funding for breast cancer screening has been significantly reduced," says Ann Cheverton, vice president of specialty services. "The grant along with the opportunity to host the kickoff event will strengthen VNA's reach into the underserved community at this critical time."
The 12-month project will begin with "A Crucial Catch Day - Your Day to Fight Breast Cancer" on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The event in Aurora will offer free education and screening opportunities for women and family friendly activities for participants of all ages.
VNA's event takes place from noon to 4 p.m. at 400 N. Highland Ave. in Aurora. It includes health presentations, healthy food demonstrations and samples, and free massage.
According to the American Cancer Society, disparities predominantly arise from inequities in work, wealth, income, education, housing, and overall standard of living, as well as social barriers to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection and treatment services. The Society collaborates with community health partners to reach individuals in communities with higher burdens of cancer and limited access to cancer screening. Through the CHANGE program, the Society provides grant opportunities to increase breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening rates in those communities.
Since 2011, CHANGE has awarded nearly 350 grants within underserved communities across the country; providing more than 1.3 million outreach and education interactions and over 460,000 cancer screenings.
Since 2009, the NFL has donated $8 million to the American Cancer Society in support of the fight to end breast cancer. Over the past three years, $6 million of that total has supported the CHANGE program. More than 100,000 women have received breast cancer prevention and early detection outreach and education, and over 56,000 breast cancer screenings have been provided. The NFL's A Crucial Catch initiative is funded primarily through the sale of breast cancer awareness-identified pink items at retail, available at NFLShop.com and in stadium retail stores, and autographed and game-used merchandise at NFL Auction. The American Cancer Society is the sole beneficiary of the net proceeds from merchandise sales and auctions.
The NFL does not profit from the sale or auction of pink merchandise. For more information, visit nfl.com/pink.
About VNA Health Care
VNA Health Care provides affordable health care to over 61,000 women, men and children living primarily in Kane, DuPage, and Will counties. VNA runs nine community health centers and is nationally ranked as a top performing health center as a result of patient outcomes such as prenatal care, adolescent weight screening and counseling, vascular disease treatment, blood pressure control, healthy birth weights, and asthma care. VNA's combination of convenience (by appointment or walk-in), patientcentered technology and expert care delivered with respect and compassion have led to these results.
VNA is accredited by The Joint Commission.
About the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is a global grass-roots force of 2.5 million volunteers saving lives and fighting for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. As the largest voluntary health organization, the Society's efforts have contributed to a 20 percent decline in cancer death rates in the U.S. since 1991, and a 50 percent drop in smoking rates. Thanks in part to our progress nearly 14 million Americans who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will celebrate more birthdays this year. We're determined to finish the fight against cancer. We're finding cures as the nation's largest private, nonprofit investor in cancer research, ensuring people facing cancer have the help they need and continuing the fight for access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings, clean air, and more.
For more information, to get help, or to join the fight, call anytime, day or night, at (800) 227-2345 or visit cancer.org.