Press releases

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Susan G. Komen Charlotte has awarded $169,256 in grant funding to Novant Health cancer prevention, education and early detection to provide mammography screenings and diagnostic services for underinsured and uninsured individuals in Mecklenburg County and surrounding communities. Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center received a $101,018 grant, and Novant Health Matthews and Huntersville medical centers received a $68,238 award. 

The Komen grant will support each medical center’s screening and diagnostic mammography program, an initiative to provide services to underinsured and uninsured individuals to reduce late-stage breast cancer diagnoses. The project will provide 522 screening mammograms, 92 three-dimensional tomography screenings and 380 diagnostic procedures, including breast ultrasounds and biopsies. Staff will perform procedures at all three Novant Health medical centers on board the mobile mammography unit as well as at Novant Health imaging centers located throughout the area. 

“Novant Health and Susan G. Komen Charlotte have partnered for 19 years to provide screening mammograms and diagnostic services to the underinsured and uninsured in our communities,” said Maria Kuklinski-Long, Novant Health cancer prevention and early detection manager. “In 2016, Komen Charlotte and other grant funders helped 770 individuals in our community receive breast screening and diagnostic services. As a result, program staff diagnosed 22 breast cancers among grant-assisted patients, including seven diagnosed in stages 3 and 4, the latest stages of breast cancer. Komen’s steadfast support through the years has allowed staff to increase the number of individuals served and remains critical in addressing unmet needs among uninsured residents.”

Komen Charlotte is one of more than 80 local affiliates of the world’s largest breast cancer organization, working in communities across the U.S. to meet the most critical needs. To help achieve Komen’s goal to reduce current breast cancer deaths by 50 percent in the U.S. by 2026, Komen affiliates fund innovative breast health projects that provide vitally needed breast cancer screening, diagnostic and treatment services and support, including patient navigation, education, medical supplies and financial assistance.  

“We conducted a needs assessment of our community and discovered a high rate of late-stage breast cancer diagnosis in Mecklenburg County,” said Sarah Bailey, Komen Charlotte director of community health. “We are confident that, through Novant Health cancer prevention, education and early detection’s help, underinsured and uninsured minority individuals in the Charlotte area will have access to screening and diagnostic services they need to reduce late-stage breast cancer diagnosis.”

For more about Novant Health cancer prevention and early detection, visit NovantHealth.org/cancer.