NEW YORK, NY, September 28, 2009 – In honor of National Mammography Day, the CANCER VIXEN FUNd at St. Vincent′s Hospital Manhattan will provide uninsured and underinsured women its third annual free mammogram screenings on Friday, October 16th.
CANCER VIXEN FUNd was founded by breast cancer survivor Marisa Acocella Marchetto, an artist and freelance cartoonist for the New Yorker and Glamour magazines, who was uninsured when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. She documented her successful treatment at St. Vincent′s Comprehensive Cancer Center, in her graphic memoir, Cancer Vixen. As someone who learned first-hand the importance of screening and early diagnosis, Marisa founded the CANCER VIXEN FUNd to help provide all women with access to potentially life-saving screenings. Marisa will be handing out signed copies of Cancer Vixen (Pantheon) to the first ten in line for the screenings.
"I established the CANCER VIXEN FUNd to help uninsured and underinsured women have the best breast care by focusing on early detection. Early detection = a 98% survival rate. That′s why we provide free mammograms on National Mammography Day," said Marisa Acocella Marchetto. "Every woman, whether she has insurance or not, deserves to live. Our motto: NO BREAST LEFT BEHIND."
The screenings will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Vincent′s Comprehensive Cancer Center, 325 W. 15th Street. Uninsured and underinsured women ages 40 and up, as well as women 35 years and older with a history of breast cancer in their families are invited to participate. Mammograms will be provided based on a provider′s clinical assessment, and a woman cannot have had a mammogram in the last 12 months. To schedule an appointment, women should call 1-888-44-CANCER.
"The mission of the CANCER VIXEN FUNd is especially important as the number of uninsured Americans continues to grow. Her efforts on behalf of the millions of women without adequate coverage remind everyone that early detection saves lives," said Dr. Stephanie Bernik, St. Vincent′s Chief of Breast Surgery.
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, breast cancer kills approximately 1,260 in New York City every year and still 23% of women 40 and older have not had a recent mammogram. Approximately 13% of women in New York City lack health insurance.
To help raise funds for future screenings, the CANCER VIXEN FUNd will host "No Breast Left Behind" on October 28th, 2009. The fabulous cocktail reception will be hosted by CNN′s Alina Cho at the LREI (Little Red School House and Elisabeth Erwin High School.) Thanks to such fundraising efforts, the Cancer Vixen Fund has been able to help more than 400 women receive mammograms and other breast health services that they would have otherwise never received. For more information on the Cancer Vixen Fund at St. Vincent′s, visit http://www.svcmc.org/body.cfm?id=1664.
About the CANCER VIXEN FUNd
CVFUNd has raised over $335,728.00, which enabled us to fund the screenings of 400 uninsured women, of which 67 of those women came back for further imaging, and 8 biopsies. We′ve saved two lives.
When you donate to the CANCER VIXEN FUNd, you provide uninsured and underinsured women with the access they need to receive the highest level of breast health services.
About Saint Vincent′s
The Breast Center at St. Vincent′s Comprehensive Cancer Center provides a complete line of Breast Health Services in one convenient location. The Cancer Center offers routine screenings, diagnostic imaging and procedures, surgeons dedicated solely to breast disease, an on–site ambulatory surgery unit and access to medical and radiation oncologists with the latest in technology and drug therapies for the treatment of Breast Cancer. A complete line of support and complementary services such as nutrition, yoga and acupuncture are also available.
Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers (Saint Vincent′s) is anchored by St. Vincent′s Hospital Manhattan, an academic medical center located in Greenwich Village and the only emergency room on the Westside of Manhattan from Midtown to Tribeca, St. Vincent′s Westchester, a behavioral health hospital in Westchester County, and continuing care services that include two skilled nursing facilities in Brooklyn, another on Staten Island, a hospice, and a home health agency serving the Metropolitan New York area. Its behavioral health services also provide supportive housing programs for people with mental illness throughout the Metropolitan area. Saint Vincent′s is the designated provider for the New York and New Jersey region of the US Family Health Plan sponsored by the US Department of Defense.
Saint Vincent′s serves as the academic medical center of New York Medical College in New York City. The healthcare organization is sponsored by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn and the president of the Sisters of Charity of New York.