Donation Aims To Help Restore Breast Cancer Services in Kern County
The Kern County not-for-profit organization Links for Life has announced that it will contribute $100,000 toward breast cancer preventive services for uninsured and underinsured women in the county, the Bakersfield Californian reports.
The move comes in response to scheduled cuts to the state's "Every Woman Counts" breast cancer screening program for low-income women. The program is slated to stop offering services for women younger than age 50 and impose a six-month enrollment freeze beginning Jan. 1, 2010.
The Links for Life funds aim to restore some of those services by covering mammograms, needle biopsies and ultrasounds for Kern County women. The funds will target women ages 40 and older who are not enrolled but who otherwise would qualify for Every Woman Counts.
Links for Life officials said the funds would not cover the cost of annual preventive screenings but would cover mammograms for women who discover breast cancer symptoms (Mayer, Bakersfield Californian, 12/17).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.