EQUAL HOPE
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Mission Statement
The Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force saves women’s lives by eliminating health disparities in Illinois, through the lens of breast cancer. We address women’s health holistically with the goal of eliminating inequities in prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship for all women.
About This Cause
Despite recent gains in the Chicago area, Chicago still has one of the country’s highest racial health mortality disparities in breast cancer and the lowest mammography screening rate in the country for women on Medicare -- African American women in Chicago are 40% more likely to die of Breast Cancer if diagnosed than are White women. The Task Force was founded to expand access and eliminate breast cancer screening and treatment inequalities in Metropolitan Chicago through education, patient navigation, quality improvement, and advocacy. The Task Force’s mission and programs are designed to address systemic barriers to care and thereby reduce the racial, ethnic, and class disparity in breast cancer death rates in Metropolitan Chicago. The Task Force works in three program areas: (1) Quality Measurement and Improvement through our Chicago Breast Cancer Quality Consortium (“the Consortium”), improving the quality of mammogram screenings and breast cancer treatment at health institutions in Chicago and throughout the State; (2) Public policy and community activism directed at eliminating healthcare inequities and supporting best quality healthcare for underserved and women of color; and (3) Community-based outreach/education and patient navigation to raise awareness about breast cancer disparities and link women to affordable screenings, diagnostic care and treatment. Quality Measurement and Improvement The Task Force seeks to impact low income, medically underserved African American and Latina women. While Chicago women of color are diagnosed with breast cancer less often, they die far more often, unlike cities such as New York. The Consortium collects mammography screening and treatment data from area institutions to determine if they are meeting national standards of care for finding and treating breast cancer. Through the Consortium, the Task Force has shown that quality of care especially mammography varies a lot in Chicago. This variation and the fragmentation of care in particular on Chicago’s south side, is likely to affect stage of diagnosis and survival. The Consortium has also shown that Chicago has systemic barriers that inhibit access, including: (1) a lack of financial resources, including insurance; (2) public health programs that provide free services but are unreliable because of chronic underfunding, suboptimal equipment and inadequate staff training and expertise; (3) variation in the quality of care with potentially more lower quality care provided to poor, uninsured and publicly insured women (4) inequitable distribution of high quality breast care resources and low participation in screening by public providers. The Task Force addresses these challenges by working with health care partners, to improve the quality of care and by providing free trainings to health care professionals, especially in safety net venues where resources to pay for trainings are scarce. Advocacy The Task Force’s community organizing and public policy programs are working to address breast cancer death disparity in Chicago. Working with our community partners, we launched the Screening Saves Lives advocacy campaign in 2010 with the goal of increasing funding for the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, which provides free mammogram screenings and breast cancer treatment for uninsured women. Women of color rely on this program more than other groups because they are more likely to be uninsured. Each year, this critical funding, which serves less than 10% of eligible women, is threatened. The Task Force responds with advocacy and legislative initiatives. These efforts have successfully preserved $8.2 million in funding for the program. Importantly, the Task Force engages grass roots organizations that serve African American and Latina women, helping to increase success and empowering the community. Outreach & Education & Patient Navigation The Task Force organizes community efforts to ensure that women understand the importance of screening and also to provide resources. Screen to Live is a free, community based outreach, education, navigation and quality improvement program that reaches over 1,000 women in Englewood and West Englewood. Greater Englewood was chosen as it has one of the highest breast cancer mortality rates in Chicago and less than 25% of women aged 40 and over receive regular screenings. In addition, Englewood has two underutilized digital mammogram machines in community based health providers. In 2012, the Task Force launched a new initiative, Beyond October, to address the chronic shortfall in mammogram services for un- and under-insured. Beyond October offers free mammograms to women all across Metropolitan Chicago (Cook and the collar counties). Through Beyond October, the Task Force works with health institutions to donate free mammograms, with a goal for 2013 of 1,000 free mammograms. Both more highly resource hospitals and many safety net hospitals have been generously donating to Beyond October. The Task Force then works with community organizations to organize outreach events and initiatives in the community. In addition to education and mammogram services, the Task Force also provides navigation services to free diagnostic and treatment services.