Affinia Healthcare is joining forces with Gateway to Hope, an organization that provides early prevention and free education on breast care and cancer by working to heal families and communities, with equitable, life-saving treatments, and compassionate breast health care.
“Breast cancer has a 90+ percent cure rate, when caught soon enough and treated,” said Dr. Kendra Holmes, Affinia Healthcare president & CEO.
“The care exists, but access to it is inequitable; African American women have a 40% higher death rate than white women. This partnership allows us to address this inequity and provide high-quality breast health care to women in our community when they need it. This partnership will help save lives.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, compared with white women, Black women in America “are younger at diagnosis, on average, and are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive or advanced forms of breast cancer.”
These disparities, or inequalities, are thought to reflect the interplay of many factors, from tumor biology to matters like income, diet, access to quality health care, and other factors related to systemic and structural racism.
Breast Cancer Research Foundation research concludes that:
-Black women under 50 are more than 50% likely to be diagnosed with aggressive breast cancers than white women.
-American Indians and Native Alaskans are 8% more likely to die from breast cancer compared to white women.
-Native American women and women of African, Hispanic and Latin American descent are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive breast cancers at earlier ages.
The disparities continue despite the fact that recent analysis published in the Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) Network shows that from 1957 to 2019, breast cancer death rates plummeted by 58%. This is comparative to 27 deaths per 100,000 women, instead of 64 per 100,000.
The analysis found percentages of reduction were associated with:
-Treating metastatic breast cancer, causing 29% reduction: Cancer spreading from breasts to other areas of the body, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
-Screening, causing 25% reduction: Typically done with a mammogram, breast MRI or clinical breast exam, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
-Treating stage I to III breast cancer, causing 47% reduction: Stage I involves cancer spreading in small areas. Stage II is where the tumor is between 20 to 50 millimeters. Stage III involves a tumor larger than 50 millimeters, spread to skin or chest wall and lymph node growth, per Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
How the partnership works
When Affinia Healthcare’s care team identifies a patient in need of breast health care, Gateway to Hope will help by navigating patients to — and through — the process of screening, diagnostics and treatments needed. By providing critical information, emotional and logistical support, and financial assistance, the partnership aims to remove barriers that exist all too often for patients and families.
“This new partnership between Affinia Healthcare and Gateway to Hope will ensure more women can access community resources, financial and emotional assistance, and essential programs like Show Me Healthy Women – our state’s program that pays for the cost of breast screening for eligible women,” said Katie Manga, CEO for Gateway to Hope.
“In turn, more women will be screened and diagnosed early enough to receive the affordable, effective treatment they need and deserve.”
This program and partnership is a response to an “urgent situation,” according to Holmes. Gateway to Hope can serve Affinia Healthcare’s patients who need breast healthcare, including routine screening mammograms, diagnostic care, and breast cancer treatment if needed.
Affinia is accepting appointments for mammograms through its partnership with BJC Healthcare. To schedule an appointment, please call (314) 814-8552, or email nmurtic@affiniahealthcare.org.