2016 REACH Grant Recipients

Cancer Services – Lung Cancer Medication Access

Lung Cancer Initiative is pleased to announce Cancer Services is the recipient of a $5,000 grant.

Located in Winston-Salem, Cancer Services’ mission is,  “to enhance the quality of life for those living with cancer and to provide the gift of life through education.”  Cancer Services provides hope for those facing cancer and for those supporting them. They assist individuals from the point of diagnosis through long-term survivorship or death with an array of emotional, physical, and financial services.

Their grant will help lung cancer patients secure the medications and cancer-related treatment support they require while in active treatment or within the first year of completing treatment.   This helps in allowing the family to focus on their cancer journey, and limits the stress related to affording and accessing treatment. Cancer Services helps 350-400 lung cancer patients being seen at Wake Forest Baptist Health and Novant Health each year.

Cancer Services is grateful to the Lung Cancer Initiative of NC for the grant that helps enable us secure critical cancer treatment medications for lung cancer patients who are un/under-insured and are facing going without treatment due to the extraordinary expenses related to lung cancer,” says Tara C. O’Brien, CEO of Cancer Services.

Community Health Coalition – Lung Cancer Screenings in African Americans

Community Health Coalition is a community based health organization whose purpose is to reduce preventable death and disease in Durham’s African American population and eliminate the health status disparity between African Americans and the general population by the year 2020, which is a Healthy People 2020 goal.

Their project seeks to examine the relationship between lung cancer information to increased lung cancer screenings among African Americans in the Durham county area. To achieve this goal, the Community Health Coalition, Inc. (CHC) will review available patient information from advocacy groups and determine if it is applicable or suitable for the African American population.

For over 25 years, the Community Health Coalition (CHC) has served a large percentage of African Americans who are uninsured or underinsured and who are frequently challenged by the lack of healthcare resources that are unavailable to them.  Many of these individuals attend a variety of events aimed at educating them about health concerns that disproportionately affect them.  Yet many don’t appear to comprehend the relationship and significance of the information to their own health status.  With this grant, CHC will be able to conduct focus group sessions to determine if there are key themes or phrases that may enable us to encourage and promote access to lung cancer screenings in these African American populations better,” says Lottie Barnes of the Community Health Coalition.

Vidant Medical Center – Lung Cancer Screening

Lung Cancer Initiative is pleased to announce Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, NC as the recipient of their $10,000 Access Grant.

This is the first year LCI has offered the Access Grant and it is one of two that will be awarded this year.  The goal of the program is to partner with community organizations in North Carolina to improve access to care and screening for lung cancer patients who are uninsured or underinsured.  Early lung cancer detection is vital to saving a person’s life and the generous people who support the Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina are helping to provide that.

“Vidant Cancer Care is very grateful to be the recipient of an Access Grant in the amount of $10,000 from the Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina.  These funds will allow us to provide low-dose CT screening to those who otherwise may not be able to have it due to cost.  The Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina is truly our partner in early diagnosis of lung cancer to decrease the mortality of this disease,” said Phyllis DeAntonio, System Service Line Administrator at Vidant Medical Center.

“We are so pleased to be able to collaborate with Vidant Medical to increase access to screening for those at risk in Eastern N.C. Providing this type of access to those in need is directly in line with our mission of saving lives and supporting those affected by lung cancer.” says Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina President, Amy Cipau.