ACCESS, American Cancer Society Partner to Provide Breast Cancer Services

Dearborn-based community center and health clinic ACCESS will be part of renewed efforts to help provide breast cancer services to high-need communities in Metro Detroit, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the National Football League Foundation.

The foundation awarded the grant to the American Cancer Society this month. In turn, the ACS teamed up with ACCESS, as well as the nonprofit health center American Indian Health and Family Services, to provide breast cancer education, outreach and screening to low-income women in southeastern Michigan.

Specifically, ACS, ACCESS and American Indian Health and Family Services will schedule home visits to local low-income households with individuals never previously screened for breast cancer and provide culturally appropriate breast cancer education aiming to increase the number of women screened. Additionally, the grant will provide training and institution of evidence-based practices for increasing screenings in a clinical setting at both sites, as well as utilize the funds to screen 150 women.  

The Detroit area grant from the NFL Foundation is part of a larger $1 million grant to support ACS’s Community Health Advocates National Grants for Empowerment program. This program utilizes partnerships between ACS and health care systems in areas of greatest need to provide outreach and breast cancer screenings to women who need them.

The NFL and the American Cancer Society will also kick off their fourth consecutive breast cancer screening campaign called, “A Crucial Catch: Annual Screening Saves Lives” this October. The campaign will help remind all women about the importance of getting a mammogram and clinical breast exam every year to find breast cancer in its early, more treatable stages.

To learn more about “A Crucial Catch: Annual Screening Saves Lives,” visit www.nfl.com/pink.