(Community Matters) Super meeting of providers, funders, advocates and guests at today’s Advisory Council for Breast Cancer Services. Two special guest presenters. Dorothy Gibbons from The Rose in Houston spoke about their collaborative initiatives. Noted that there were more uninsured people in Houston than in 12 states. Also noted that the crime in what we are facing is that too many women who work won’t qualify for public health care yet don’t have adequate private coverage.
Dr. Barbara Jones from UT shared the results of her needs assessment analysis covering Travis and Hays counties. Bottom line, we need more patient navigators. Most existing providers doing good work for under and uninsured clients and simply need more capacity. Plus we need more services for insured and affluent women/families.
The new breast cancer bike ride will probably be held on Oct 3, 2009. Organizations have contributed a total of $100,000 in seed money, and we expect to net at least $250k in the first year alone. The B-Club has launched, recruited its Queen Bees and is raising money for the emergency fund for women with breast cancer – it’s modeled after the Octopus Club which raises money for People With AIDS. Finally, the Sustainable Food Center launches their healthy cooking classes for women with breast cancer in a couple of weeks.
Community Matters 