Two Grants Help Provide Free Mammograms

Two grants from Pink Aid are helping Northwell Health to provide free mammograms and other medical care to the medically underserved.

Pink Aid, a 501c3 group that gives grants to help women better survive breast cancer, gave a $30,000 grant to the Northwell Health Cancer Institute’s Breast Cancer Hardship Fund and a $30,000 grant to the Dolan Family Health Center in Greenlawn.

These two grants will be used to help women who otherwise couldn’t afford a mammogram or other breast cancer screening and treatment to receive the services at no cost. In addition, the grants will allow the Northwell Health Cancer Instituteand Dolan Family Health Center to help women with transportation, child care, food cards, wigs, house cleaning and mastectomy products as well.

To be eligible for these grants, women must reside in either Nassau or Suffolk County.

“We really appreciate these grants, which will help so many women who unfortunately have to put off getting screened for breast cancer to better take care of themselves and their families,” said George Raptis, MD, acting executive director of the Northwell Health Cancer Institute, and vice president of the Oncology Network.

Pink Aid provided the Dolan Family Health Center with a $25,000 grant last year which allowed the Health Center to provide 250 free procedures including screening and diagnostic mammograms, sonograms and breast biopsies/cyst aspirations forthe medically underserved women of the area.

“The Pink Aid funding has allowed us to remove the financial barrier for mammograms for our self-pay patients,” said Kathy Giffuni, RN, nurse manager at the Dolan Family Health Center. “This has encouraged more women to complete this necessary screening.”