The Breast Health Collaborative of Texas will present the 5th Annual Breast Health Summit on Thursday, October 29, and Friday, October 30, at the United Way of Texas Gulf Coast. The Summit is open to anyone interested in improving access to care, however, registration is required (breasthealthsummit.org). The purpose of the Summit is to focus on ways to improve access to health care, particularly for underinsured women in Texas.
Kim Akel, co-chair and director of Program Services at CanCare, Inc, says, “The Breast Health Summit is a community of people who care. If you care about when and how a person is screened for breast cancer, how they are diagnosed, treated and followed-up with, then this is the place for you. We foster an environment for information sharing and discussion on access to care, and every component involved: patient navigation, health care reform, insight into being a survivor, developing and utilizing a mobile mammography unit, integrative therapies and so on.”
The Summit will include a health care panel presentation in a town-hall meeting format with Ellen Cohen (State Representative District 134) and Garnett Coleman (State Representative District 147). The panel will respond to what they see happening with Health Care reform, and address how these changes will affect non-profit organizations and the people they serve. Dr. Thomas Moore, a nationally recognized author and keynote speaker, will discuss the topics, “Illness is a Right of Passage” and “Spirit and Soul in the Treatment of Cancer.” Bill Gimson, the executive director of the State of Texas Cancer Prevention and Research Institute (CPRIT) will also be featured. CPRIT was the result of Proposition 15- HJR 90, which Texas voters approved in November 2007. It allowed the issuance of $3 billion in bonds over ten years to fund grants for cancer research and prevention.
Other presentations will include organizational “speed dating” featuring various breast health and cancer organizations from around the state, patient navigation, a report on across-the-state issues and challenges and how we are currently closing the gap. According to Summit Co-Chair Loubel Cruz, associate director of Pink Ribbons Project, “This year’s Breast Health Summit will be the ideal place for anyone and everyone along the continuum of care for a breast cancer patient. “
Funding for the Breast Health Summit is provided by Pink Ribbons Project, The Rose, Houston Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Boeing, St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, M.D. Anderson Foundation, St. Martin's Episcopal Church, American Cancer Society Gulf Coast Region, Brazosport Regional Health System, Houston Endowment and Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.
Who: The Breast Health Collaborative of Texas
What: The 5th Annual Breast Health Summit
When: Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30
Where: United Way of Texas Gulf Coast Resource Center, 50 Waugh Drive, Houston, TX 77007.
Registration is $50. For more information or to register, log on to breasthealthsummit.org.
About the Breast Health Collaborative
The mission of the Breast Health Collaborative is to unite breast health advocates and providers to educate, advocate and leverage resources in Texas. Currently, the Collaborative has members stretching from Galveston to Big Bend, as far North as Dallas, and as far south as Brownsville. It has helped to advocate for a $19 million increase in spending for breast cancer screening, diagnostics, and treatment for low- income Texas women; advocated for reclassification of options with the Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, taking Texas from the most restricted option available to the least restricted, allowing more uninsured women access to services; helped advocate for the passage of Proposition 15, resulting in the dedication of $3 billion for cancer research and prevention over the next ten years. The Collaborative has over a hundred member organizations and the number continues to grow. There is no membership fee; members are simply asked for their ideas, input and time, plus a commitment to increasing access to healthcare through innovation and change.
Kim Akel, co-chair and director of Program Services at CanCare, Inc, says, “The Breast Health Summit is a community of people who care. If you care about when and how a person is screened for breast cancer, how they are diagnosed, treated and followed-up with, then this is the place for you. We foster an environment for information sharing and discussion on access to care, and every component involved: patient navigation, health care reform, insight into being a survivor, developing and utilizing a mobile mammography unit, integrative therapies and so on.”
The Summit will include a health care panel presentation in a town-hall meeting format with Ellen Cohen (State Representative District 134) and Garnett Coleman (State Representative District 147). The panel will respond to what they see happening with Health Care reform, and address how these changes will affect non-profit organizations and the people they serve. Dr. Thomas Moore, a nationally recognized author and keynote speaker, will discuss the topics, “Illness is a Right of Passage” and “Spirit and Soul in the Treatment of Cancer.” Bill Gimson, the executive director of the State of Texas Cancer Prevention and Research Institute (CPRIT) will also be featured. CPRIT was the result of Proposition 15- HJR 90, which Texas voters approved in November 2007. It allowed the issuance of $3 billion in bonds over ten years to fund grants for cancer research and prevention.
Other presentations will include organizational “speed dating” featuring various breast health and cancer organizations from around the state, patient navigation, a report on across-the-state issues and challenges and how we are currently closing the gap. According to Summit Co-Chair Loubel Cruz, associate director of Pink Ribbons Project, “This year’s Breast Health Summit will be the ideal place for anyone and everyone along the continuum of care for a breast cancer patient. “
Funding for the Breast Health Summit is provided by Pink Ribbons Project, The Rose, Houston Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Boeing, St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, M.D. Anderson Foundation, St. Martin's Episcopal Church, American Cancer Society Gulf Coast Region, Brazosport Regional Health System, Houston Endowment and Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.
Who: The Breast Health Collaborative of Texas
What: The 5th Annual Breast Health Summit
When: Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30
Where: United Way of Texas Gulf Coast Resource Center, 50 Waugh Drive, Houston, TX 77007.
Registration is $50. For more information or to register, log on to breasthealthsummit.org.
About the Breast Health Collaborative
The mission of the Breast Health Collaborative is to unite breast health advocates and providers to educate, advocate and leverage resources in Texas. Currently, the Collaborative has members stretching from Galveston to Big Bend, as far North as Dallas, and as far south as Brownsville. It has helped to advocate for a $19 million increase in spending for breast cancer screening, diagnostics, and treatment for low- income Texas women; advocated for reclassification of options with the Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, taking Texas from the most restricted option available to the least restricted, allowing more uninsured women access to services; helped advocate for the passage of Proposition 15, resulting in the dedication of $3 billion for cancer research and prevention over the next ten years. The Collaborative has over a hundred member organizations and the number continues to grow. There is no membership fee; members are simply asked for their ideas, input and time, plus a commitment to increasing access to healthcare through innovation and change.
