Allen Neighborhood Center Gets $18,000 Grant to Promote Breast Health

A few years ago, pollsters went door to door in the area surrounding the Allen  Neighborhood Center (ANC) on Lansing’s East side.

They asked questions about many things, and in the process found 40 and 50-year-old women who had never had breast X-rays. They also learned that even though 70 percent of cancers are detected by women examining themselves, many in the neighborhood were not regularly doing the exams, and in fact did not know how to do them.

Soon after, the ANC got its first grant from the Mid-Michigan Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation and began developing programs to help women understand the means to maintain healthy breasts. The center has once more received an $18,326 grant to continue its work.

“Survival rates are improving because of early detection,” says Joan Nelson, ANC director. But maintaining a healthy lifestyle helps, too, she says, emphasizing healthy diets and exercise.

“However, it’s one things to say people should eat well and have regular mammograms, but another to be sure they can,” she says.
 
A Breast Health Club claiming 530 members emphasizes good foods like flax seed and walnuts, and monthly postcards remind members to examine themselves.

This year, some of the cards will be in Spanish to serve the growing Cuban population in the area. But there is also a travel companion program to help women get to a clinic, and there are organized walking groups.

“We try to design the measures people need as well as the support systems to assist them when they need it,” Nelson says.

Source: Joan Nelson, Allen Neighborhood Center

Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here. 

All Photographs © Dave Trumpie