Press Release
For more information about Erie Family Health Center, please contact Valerie Comprelli at 312.432.7463 or vcomprelli@eriefamilyhealth.org
ERIE FAMILY HEALTH CENTER RECEIVES GRANT FROM KOMEN CHICAGO AFFILIATE TO INCREASE ACCESS TO SCREENINGS FOR LOW-INCOME LATINAS
Chicago, IL – April 2010 – The Chicagoland Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® has awarded a $15,000 grant to Erie Family Health Center to support efforts to increase breast and cervical cancer screenings for low-income Latinas in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. 
At Erie, the grant from Komen for the Cure® will support the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program at Erie Helping Hands Health Center, an initiative that provides free women’s health exams to uninsured women, including clinical breast exams and pap smears. The program will involve screenings, referrals for screening and diagnostic mammograms for those women who need them, and targeted community education about the importance of breast and cervical cancer screenings.
“Erie is committed to reducing the health disparities experienced by our community, and early detection of breast and cervical cancer is so important to these efforts. Erie is grateful for the support of the Chicagoland Area Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® in ensuring that our predominately low-income, Latina patients have access to screening and education,” said Dr. Lee Francis, President and CEO of Erie Family Health Center.
Susan G. Komen® for the Cure is the world’s largest breast cancer organization, and the Chicagoland Area Affiliate is one of 125 Affiliates on the front lines dedicated to ending breast cancer in their communities. Komen Affiliates fund innovative programs that help women and men overcome the cultural, social, educational and financial barriers to breast cancer screening and treatment.
“At the Komen Chicagoland Area Affiliate, we conducted a needs assessment of our community and discovered the need to address breast health disparities in underserved communities,” said Executive Director, Michael Ziener. “We are confident that through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program at Erie Helping Hands, Hispanic women in our community will have low-cost access to the care they need.”
About Erie Family Health Center
Founded in 1957, Erie Family Health Center’s mission is to provide accessible, affordable, high quality health care to those in need. Erie provides primary care medical services including: pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, women’s health and podiatry to approximately 33,000 low-income Chicagoans each year at nine health center locations. Erie also provides HIV/AIDS care, behavioral health counseling, case management services, health education, oral health services, and eye care. For more information on Erie Family Health Center call 312-432-7414 or visit www.eriefamilyhealth.org
About Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Komen Chicagoland Area 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 Chicagoland Area Affiliate is part of the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting breast cancer. Through events like the Komen Chicago Race for the Cure, the Chicagoland Area Affiliate has invested over $9M in community breast cancer programs in five counties. Up to 75 percent of net proceeds generated by the Affiliate stays in the Chicagoland Area. The remaining 25 percent funds breast cancer research. For more information, call 773-444-0061 or visit www.komenchicago.org