Horizons Community Solutions receives $50,000 from breast cancer license tag funds

ATLANTA – Purchases of Georgia’s breast cancer license tags is allowing Horizons Community Solutions to reach out to at least 1,000 women in Dougherty and Terrell counties to increase their awareness of the availability of no-cost breast cancer screening services.

Horizons officials said the organization has been awarded $50,000 from the license tag fund to provide screening mammograms for uninsured women in the two counties.

Officials said Horizons will collaborate with health care providers to recruit and navigate at least 300 women through breast cancer screening and follow-up. Officials said the funds will allow Horizons to better coordinate services using a mammography coordinating center.

“Nearly one-third of women residing in Dougherty and Terrell counties do not currently get age-appropriate breast cancer screening,” interim Horizons CEO Jennifer Johnston said. “Our goal is to recruit uninsured women, refer them to local programs and ensure that they receive timely services.”

Officials said $22 of each breast cancer license tag purchased, or $35 of each tag renewed, funds the $300,000 in awards this year, administered by the Georgia Center for Oncology Research and Education (Georgia CORE) on behalf of the State Office of Rural Health in the Department of Community Health.

“While Georgia has increased breast cancer screening rates, not all women – particularly those without health insurance – receive appropriate screening or treatment,” Angie Patterson, vice president of Georgia CORE and a 16-year breast cancer survivor, said. “The work this grant money supports will help identify breast cancer at an earlier stage, making treatment more effective.”

The state Office of Rural Health works to improve access to health care in rural and underserved areas and to reduce health status disparities. The office provides funding for the framework that links small rural communities with state and federal resources to help develop long-term solutions to rural health problems.

Georgia CORE is a public-private partnership designed to bring higher quality, better organized and more cost-effective care to cancer patients and survivors. The organization’s board of directors comprises cancer experts from leading cancer centers and academic institutions. CORE’s network develops tools and resources for cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, health care providers and researchers.

Horizons, formerly the Cancer Coalition of South Georgia, has been serving a 32-county service area for 15 years. Its Community Cancer Screening Program networks 16 primary-care providers, hospitals and cancer centers in a model of care that facilitates navigation and cancer screening services with the goal of reducing cancer screening and early detection disparities among low-income, uninsured Southwest Georgians.

For information on the tag program, go to www.georgiacancerinfo.org/breastcancertag.