Left to right: Denise Hundley, administrator of women’s services at Saint Joseph East; Janet Morgan, nurse navigator at Saint Joseph Breast Center; Kristy Peters, manager of Saint Joseph Breast Center; Neva Francis, director of community outreach and marketing & public relations at Saint Joseph Martin; Kelly Elkins, regional director of strategy & business development and interim vice president of oncology services at the legacy Saint Joseph Health System; and Di Boyer, director of major gifts at Saint Joseph Hospital Foundation

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MARTIN – Determined to save lives and end breast cancer forever, the Lexington Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure has awarded 12 grants totaling over $350,000 to programs providing breast health services in Central and Eastern Kentucky.

Seventy-five percent of donations to Komen Lexington are kept local for these community programs, while 25 percent is invested into groundbreaking breast cancer research to find the cures.

“To meet needs we have discovered right here in our community, this year’s grant slate specifically addresses reducing the number of stage 3 and stage 4 diagnosis in Kentucky and we would like to impact those number by focusing on screenings and flooding the state with education about breast health,” said Jennifer Bricking, Executive Director of the Affiliate. “Eventually, with other community partners Komen Lexington would like to help provide a mobile mammography unit that could travel the entire state and assist in getting these numbers down even more.”

Saint Joseph Martin’s “Yes, Mamm!” in Martin Breast Health Program will provide breast health education for the community and will provide a restricted number of free mammograms for those who meet the guidelines.

“We are very pleased to have received a Susan G. Komen for the Cure® grant,” stated Kathy Stumbo, president. “Our community’s health is very important to us and this grant allows us to address needs we see people struggling with each day.”

In order to ensure Komen Lexington is funding programs that address the specific unmet breast cancer needs of the communities it serves, the Affiliate works with local health care professionals and community leaders to conduct a comprehensive community needs assessment. This community profile, a standard practice of all Komen Affiliates, is then used to establish a local grant application and review process consistent with the organization’s standards and mission.

For more information on the specific grants awarded, how to get involved with Komen or to host an event, visit www.komenlexington.org or call the office at 859.368.7133 or 800.894.5699.

Last year, Susan G. Komen for the Cure Affiliates—working in concert with local organizations—awarded more than $80 million in needs-based community grants. That’s in addition to the 25 percent of their income that Affiliates contribute toward the many millions the organization invests each year in promising research.