In the News
JFS RECEIVES NEARLY $40K IN GRANT FUNDING FROM CENTRAL AND SOUTH JERSEY AFFILIATE OF SUSAN G. KOMEN
Posted on May 06, 2011
The Central and South Jersey Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® has awarded a $39,360 grant to Jewish Family Service of Atlantic & Cape May Counties to create the JFS Women’s Health Network. The program helps women navigate the healthcare system by creating awareness through education, instituting strategies that will reduce barriers to access and by promoting consumer compliance through intensive case management support. Through this funding, JFS aims to increase participation in annual breast cancer screenings among women between the ages of 40 and 64 who are diagnosed with mental illness.
“At the Komen Central and South Jersey Affiliate, we conducted a needs assessment of our service area,” said Komen Affiliate Executive Director Nancy Healey. “This grant supports our strategic objective to ensure that medically underserved women have access to life-saving mammography screening.”
JFS Women’s Health Network will target women in Atlantic County who are medically underserved and have priorities that compete with preventive health care adherence. Over the next 12 months, JFS strives to educate 300 women about risk factors associated with breast cancer and facilitate breast screening and follow-up care in conjunction with the AtlantiCare and its Mobile Mammography van services.
“Individuals with a mental health diagnosis often have barriers to care due to a variety of factors,” said project coordinator Sharon Simon. “This funding enables JFS to provide crucial education and facilitate compliance with breast health services to those women in our community who are not currently being screened.”
JFS will also host two events (Health and Wellness Recovery Conference – June and Women’s Health Fair – October) which will feature seminars on breast cancer awareness and treatment for women and their families. The AtlantiCare Mobile Mammography van will be on premise to give participants the opportunity to obtain their annual breast screening with the support of JFS outreach staff.
Key community programs like Women’s Health Network receive funding from events that Komen Central and South Jersey Affiliate holds throughout the year including the Susan G. Komen Central and South Jersey Race for the Cure® scheduled for Sunday, October 2, 2011, at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ. Nearly twenty thousand participants will participate in what has grown into the largest 5K race in New Jersey.
About Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Komen Central and South Jersey Affiliate
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever, and in 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The Central and South Jersey Affiliate is part of the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting breast cancer. Through events like the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, theCentral and South Jersey Affiliate has invested $20 million in community breast cancer programs in its 13-county service area. Up to 75 percent of net proceeds generated by the Affiliate stays in central and southern New Jersey. The remaining 25 percent funds national breast cancer research. For more information, call 609-896-1201 or visit komencsnj.org.
