I thought this was an interesting article about this issue

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor...ok_slimy_.html

Planned Parenthood to keep O.C. Komen dollars

Planned Parenthood in Orange County will be able to continue providing mammograms and breast health education this year with $120,000 in local Susan G. Komen for the Cure funds, despite a national flap tied to abortion.

You may want to contact your local public health office (run by the state or county government) or a hospital to see if there is a fund or program where you can directly donate funds to provide or offset the price of mammograms or other breast cancer related costs.

YES! There are MANY organizations out there that perform research, or treat or provide support services DIRECTLY to patients...and Komen wasn't one of them. Komen was just a middle man - you can give those dollars directly to the organizations and facilities doing the hard work to cure and treat cancer.

Don't most (if not all) Planned Parenthood clinics refer their clients elsewhere for mammograms? If my information is correct and that is the fact, the solution would be to support the clinics doing the actual mammograms. Here in Houston we have The Rose - http://www.the-rose.org/

It is very rare for clinics to have their own mammogram equipment. Clinics that support low income communities would have a hard time affording mammogram equipment, a mammography tech, the tracking software and radiologists salary to do mammography on site. Patients can't just go to a mammography clinic directly either. You have to have a primary physician. The VAST majority of services for low income women, ie. Health Units, Well Woman, PP, etc send out referrals just like your regular doctor would. They then pay the bill to the mammography center. Mostly these groups have contracts with mammography groups to care for their patients. My group sees all of Pinal County and Maricopa County Health Unit patients in Arizona. The Health Unit doesn't have it's own mammo business. BTW, there are NO free mammogram clinics in the Phoenix area. Even with the services we have, there are thousands of women who cannot get coverage for mammograms in this area.

Again, I draw your attention to the example of The Rose, where patients can be seem without a referral, as an example of how it can work. My mother, who has insurance, has hers at The Rose because the insured patients help support services for the uninsured. My point is that those (including SGK) who are interested in providing services to low income or uninsured women should direct their money to making that type of program more accessible. If the Planned Parenthood clinics have been making referrals to existing clinics then other organizations now need to step forward to either 1.) enable women to be referred or 2.) enable women to get screening mammograms without a referral. I think it is incumbent on SGK to step up and insure that the women who were being served by Planned Parenthood are not left without access to screenings. I am gobsmacked that an area as large as Phoenix is without free services.

List of grantees from SGK Phoenix:

http://www.komenphoenix.org/grants/c...nt-recipients/

There are quite a few to organizations that provide mammograms to uninsured and under-insured women. For example, this is the very first grantee listed:

There are many others listed.

Oh, and psst Belle- it's SGK, not SBK. Susan B was Anthony! ;)

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...nationform.jpg

This is damn funny.

Whoops! Here's what is now running through my head - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaBCw...eature=related

They said on Good Morning America that Planned Parenthood has received more than 1,000,000 in donations this week alone because of this controversy. That's more than the $680,000 they receive from SGK.

What's that saying about a woman scorned? lol

I read about your clinic, Belle. They are EXTREMELY rare. Wouldn't it be nice to have those available to women, but they don't exist everywhere.

BTW, Well Women does NOT perform mammography. They also have a LONG waiting list for women in AZ. For a lot of these grantees, you'll see they are in conjunction with John C Lincoln or another center... because they don't do mammography on site. Trust me, I know how mammography is provided in my community. Yavapai and Maracopa counties refer out. Even the hospitals that have direct grants are using referrals BECAUSE you need a physician to see the patient and follow up the result. Cutting out the primary physician is ludicrous and is NOT how medicine is performed in this country. Even Mobile-On Site-Mammography gets a majority of its patients due to referrals from physicians in underserved areas not from patients without doctors who can't afford care. They have to send their diagnostic exams out to Mammo centers on referral as well. It's a specious argument.


ETA: I'm on a CDC committee for young breast cancer survivors through John C Lincoln Hospital, BTW, and at our last meeting we were discussing the difficulties getting screening/treatment for women in the state of AZ despite the nonprofit work. With the help of Jan Brewer and our legislature severely cutting Medicaid many women can no longer qualify for screening or diagnostic mammography. The horrible reality is that if they aren't diagnosed through the well women program, they don't qualify for federal grants to pay for treatment and aren't being treated either.

Also, I never said there were no services for the poor in PHX (though they are severely lacking). I said there are no free mammography clinics, a la The Rose.

The trouble is, where are they going to get their funding next year? Once I get my 2012 budget figured out (now that I just got my merit raise information), I'm going to go set up a monthly donation since those are a more reliable source of funding for groups like PP.

Also, $500,000.00 of that came from two men. Women's health isn't just something the wimminz are worried about. :)

Of course, an excellent option as well.

iLike

Ditto. And I know we've had the conversation before in other threads, but all the risque t-shirts to raise breast cancer awareness.... come on.