The Comprehensive Cancer Center at Rhode Island and The Miriam hospitals received a $500,000 grant from the Avon Foundation to support its breast cancer patient navigator program over the next two years. This is the third consecutive grant awarded to the program by the Avon Foundation and the first multi-year grant.

Funded by Avon since it was established in 2005, the patient navigator program helps to increase the number of people who complete the recommended treatment plans once they have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Patient navigators act as advocates for breast cancer patients, assisting them from diagnosis through treatment. While navigators are available to work with all breast cancer patients, the grant allows them to focus their efforts on patients who speak English as a second language as well as the poor, the elderly and the uninsured.

Following the annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Boston, members of the Lifespan team receive the grant renewal check of $500,000 to continue the patient navigator program at Rhode Island and The Miriam hospitals. (Pictured from left are Margot Powell, nurse navigator at RIH; Carole Kurzig, executive director of Avon Foundation; Julie Gray, nurse navigator at TMH; and Eloise Caggiano, program director of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.)

Advocates provide assistance in complying with treatment plans, emotional support, arranging transportation for appointments, providing explanations of diagnoses and how to follow treatment plans, and education and support for the patient’s family members.

The check was presented at the closing ceremonies of the sixth annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Boston last weekend, raising $6.9 million to advance access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer. At the event’s Closing Ceremony, Carol Kurzig, Executive Director of the Avon Foundation, announced a total of $3,025,000 in initial grants awarded to seven local organizations, ensuring the funds raised immediately benefit the community. In addition to the funding for the patient navigator program, other award recipients include Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA) for research studies as well as access to care programs; St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center (Lewiston, ME) for state-of-the-art equipment upgrades in mammography and ultra-sound and expansion of patient navigation services; Dana Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA) to support a new mobile mammography vehicle with state-of-the-art equipment; Boston Medical Center (Boston, MA) for an Avon Foundation initiative to support scientists with innovative concepts in breast cancer research; Cambridge Health Alliance (Cambridge, MA) to expand access to high quality, affordable comprehensive breast health services to medically underserved women in Boston’s MetroNorth region; and Silent Spring Institute (Newton, MA) to fund research into the potential role of genetic and environment interactions in breast cancer and to update their MassHEIS environmental information system.

The Comprehensive Cancer Center is a collaboration of Lifespan partners Rhode Island Hospital, The Miriam Hospital and Newport Hospital, utilizing multidisciplinary clinics to coordinate all aspects of care and treatment for cancer patients at each hospital.