Spectrum Health Foundation

The Spectrum Health Betty Ford Breast Care Services team currently has 3 full-time equivalent Nurses on staff that provide services from the point of diagnosis through survivorship for 700 breast cancer patients per year including 100 underserved. Our Nurses serve patients from the point of the suspicious mammogram. Ultimately our goal is to eliminate barriers due to access, socioeconomic, cultural, language and communication issues, in addition to other barriers to quality breast care that may lead to disparities in outcomes. Our strategies include patient education, outreach, mobile screening services, and community education along with reminder and provider feedback systems. Tracking systems are in place to ensure patients are followed up in a timely manner.

“The availability of funding which allows us to better serve the underserved/uninsured/underinsured population, is invaluable. Without it, numerous persons would bypass lifesaving, needed breast imaging because choosing between paying medical bills and buying groceries and/or taking care of their family is not much of a choice. 2020 has proven to be a year with numerous, unexpected hardships for many. I wish I could express in writing the sigh of relief I hear on the other end of a phone call when telling a patient, she qualifies for our Breast Grants Program! Thank you for considering our proposal, your funding touches many lives.” — Rhonda Kiel, RT(R)(M), SH Betty Ford Breast Care Community Health Program Coordinator