MMU Awarded Komen Grant

The BRMC Mobile Mammography Unit was a recipient of one of the 2016 Komen grants recently presented at an annual luncheon in Little Rock. Pictured (from left) are Stefany Isham, Coordinator, BRMC Breast Imaging Center; Sherrye McBryde, Executive Director, Susan G. Komen Arkansas; Cindy Costa, CFRE, Director of Development, Baxter Regional Hospital Foundation; and Justin Woods, Major Gifts Officer, Baxter Regional Hospital Foundation. The Arkansas Affiliate of Susan G. Komen recently handed out 16 grants totaling over $890,000 to Arkansas organizations, including a $71,742 grant for the Baxter Regional Medical Center Mobile Mammography Unit.

BRMC has provided mobile mammography to North Central Arkansas since 2001. The Mobile Mammography Unit (MMU) has traveled to factories, businesses, schools and places of worship to reach women who would not otherwise have received their mammogram. The MMU is on the road almost every day, serving patients in Boone, Marion, Searcy, Baxter, Fulton, Izard, Stone, and Sharp Counties in Arkansas and Ozark County, Missouri. A new MMU was purchased in 2012 that was outfitted with 3-D digital mammography technology, making Baxter Regional the first MMU in the United States to provide this cutting edge technology.

This year marks the 22nd year for the Komen organization to award grants to programs around the state who are working in the fight against breast cancer. These funds are predominantly raised through the Race for the Cureandreg; and Runway for the Cure® events.

A total of $895,484 was granted. Also announced was $268,000 of money raised in Arkansas that will go directly into Komen National Research grants to find a cure for breast cancer. andldquo;We are always proud of the opportunity to help the women in our state with grant funds,” said Arkansas Affiliate Executive Director Sherrye McBryde. “Our grants are a direct result of the hard work of our volunteers and the generosity of our supporters. The recipients of these funds were chosen because their innovative, evidence-based projects aligned with one or more target priorities identified in the 2015 Komen Arkansas Community Profile. We want to understand the breast cancer needs of every community we serve. So every four years, the Arkansas Affiliate examines the impact of breast cancer within our service area by conducting an assessment, the Community Profile Report, which ensures that our efforts (community outreach, collaborations, grants and public policy work) address the greatest needs in each community. The full 2015 Community Profile can be found on our website at www.komenarkansas.org."

The Komen Arkansas Affiliate first awarded grants totaling $78,700 in 1994. This year, the largest grant totaled $167,992 and the smallest awarded was $11,792.

Komen for the Cure was established as the Komen Foundation in 1982 by Nancy Brinker to honor the memory of her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died from breast cancer at the age of 36. Thanks to more than 75,000 volunteers dedicated to the fight against breast cancer, Komen for the Cure with its Affiliate Network is the worldandrsquo;s largest private funder of community-based breast health education and breast cancer screening and treatment programs. Together with its Affiliate Network, corporate partners and donors, Komen for the Cure has raised over one billion dollars for the fight against breast cancer.

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