Highmark Foundation Awards $25,000 Grant to The Northeast Regional Cancer Institute
Jane Brooks, Regional Manager for Highmark Blue Shield and Program Officer for Highmark Foundation presents Laura Toole, Executive Vice President of the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute with a $25,000 grant check to support the Community-Based Cancer Screening Navigation Program. Not pictured: Katie Kemmerer, Community Affairs for NEPA Region for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield.
The Highmark Foundation recently awarded the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute with a $25,000 grant to support the Community-Based Cancer Screening Navigation Program.
This investment will ensure the continuous work of the Community-Based Cancer Screening Navigation Program for underserved residents of northeastern Pennsylvania to facilitate colon, breast, and cervical cancer screenings. The program helps with identifying and reducing hurdles related to screening completion and diagnostic follow-up (if needed) while establishing or re-establishing medical homes for the targeted population. Currently, the Program helps low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals who are not up to date with breast, cervical, colon, and lung cancer screenings.
“We are very grateful to receive this grant from the Highmark Foundation. The grant award will help support the continuation of the Navigation Screening Program in providing potentially lifesaving cancer screenings among individuals who might not otherwise have the resources to get screened,” said Laura Toole, Executive Vice President at the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute.
“When talking about cancer we all know early detection is the key and it is vitally important that we break down the barriers to early detection,” said Highmark Foundation President Yvonne Cook. “The Northeast Regional Cancer Institute is doing this potentially lifesaving work every day and the Highmark Foundation is proud to support the Cancer Screening Navigation Program and its efforts on behalf of underserved Pennsylvanians.
About the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute
The Northeast Regional Cancer Institute is a nonprofit community-based agency serving seven counties in northeast Pennsylvania with offices located in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Focusing on surveillance, community and patient services, and hospital and practice support services, the Cancer Institute invests 100% of its resources locally.
About the Highmark Foundation
The Highmark Foundation is a private, charitable organization dedicated to public health and human service initiatives. As a thought leader in these fields, they strive to unite regional, national, and global organizations to raise awareness and bring about long-term systematic change. Their mission is to improve the health, well-being, and quality of life for communities and individuals in the diverse areas served by Highmark Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. This includes rural areas where health care access and human services are limited or nonexistent. Vital to this mission is their goal to continuously identify and re-evaluate our region’s prevailing health care needs as they change and evolve.
They achieve their mission by awarding high-impact grants to nonprofits and other charitable organizations that implement evidence-based programs aimed at improving community health and happiness.