Avon Initiatives to Improve Breast Care for Medically Underserved Women

In addition to strengthening the excellent research carried out at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade's gift included partnership with Harborview Medical Center (HMC) to develop new clinical and research programs to improve breast care delivery to vulnerable populations of women. HMC is a county hospital delivering comprehensive medical services to the residents of inner city Seattle as part of the University of Washington Academic Medical Center. HMC is nationally recognized for developing, evaluating and adopting clinical programs that improve clinical care for vulnerable populations. The Breast Care Program at Harborview was specifically established to serve low-income women, many of whom are from racial and ethnic minority groups.

The Avon Breast Cancer Crusade gift both improves access to high quality breast care for a diverse population of low-income women and funds research that will further our understanding of socioeconomic and cultural barriers these women face in obtaining timely and quality care. By partnering with the Harborview Medical Center and University of Washington Academic Medical Center, Avon's gift supports initiatives to:

• Develop a comprehensive clinical database for tracking women from screening to diagnosis
• Improve mammography screening rates among the low-income, racially and ethnically diverse women through education and individual assistance by a patient care coordinator
• Establish an Avon Breast Health Care Safety Net Fund to support clinical breast care for indigent and vulnerable women in King County
• Collect qualitative and quantitative information about the experiences, behaviors and clinical outcomes among a racially and ethnically diverse population of low-income women from breast cancer screening to breast cancer treatment
• Identify barriers to care and develop and pilot test ethnically and culturally appropriate interventions to reduce these barriers