ACTS grant awarded to 10 cancer organizations providing care to underserved women in Georgia

7/14/2014

Georgia CORE has announced the 2014 recipients of the Georgia Access to Care, Treatment and Services (ACTS) Grant. The grant is funded by Georgia’s breast cancer license tag program, in which each tag purchased or renewed from the Georgia Department of Revenue, $22 goes into the fund.

The 2014 winners include Central Georgia Cancer Coalition and Meadows Regional Medical Center, both of which won grants of approximately $100,000 for treatment programs. Additional winners are Athens Regional Foundation, Center for Black Women's Wellness, Center for Pan Asian Community Services, East Georgia Cancer Coalition, Gwinnett Medical Center, Hearts & Hands Clinic, Northside Hospital Cancer Institute, and Susan G. Komen Atlanta Affiliate, all of which won grants of approximately $50,000 for education programs.

“We were also able to allocate $48,000 to the Georgia Department of Public Health for the Breast & Cervical Cancer Prevention Program for underserved women,” said Georgia CORE vice president Angie Patterson. “This is incredibly good news since many of these women are on waiting lists for mammograms, and the state has not been able to increase funding for BCCP.”

Georgia CORE administers the ACTS Grant on behalf of the Georgia State Office of Rural Health within the Department of Community Health. Over the past several years, cancer centers and nonprofit organizations throughout the state have applied for this funding to pay for screenings, education and treatment for Georgians without insurance that are also below the poverty level.

“We congratulate the winners and look forward to seeing the impact of all the work that will come out of their awards, particularly in providing services to those Georgians that need it most,” said Georgia CORE president Nancy Paris. “We are grateful to be partners in such a powerful cancer prevention and treatment program.”

Starting in 2014, supplemental funds from the breast cancer license tag program have gone to administer genetic testing for those in need as well; twenty people have been tested to date with these funds.

“As long as Georgia drivers buy the license tag, the fund will continue to grow,” said Patterson. “With breast cancer being the second leading cause of cancer death among women in our state, we need more people to buy them so we can expand breast cancer treatments and early detection services to as many Georgians as possible.”

To find out how to purchase a breast cancer awareness license tag, please visit the Georgia Department of Revenue website or visit your local county tag office. For more information on the ACTS grant, please visit www.GeorgiaCancerInfo.org.