San Francisco Coalition To Provide No-Cost Prostate Cancer Care to Low-Income African Americans
Public and private hospitals in San Francisco will provide no-cost care for prostate cancer to African-American men who cannot afford treatment, under a new program city officials announced Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The city's 10 hospitals have agreed to participate in the program, following a 2001 study by the hospitals, the Department of Public Health and community-based organizations that found African Americans in San Francisco have higher mortality rates from prostate cancer than other ethnic groups.
The program, which will cost an estimated $1 million, is being coordinated by the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California.
Mark Laret, council chair and CEO of University of California-San Francisco Medical Center, said, "If we can make a dent in this, we can show the way for other cities across the country."
Tony Wagner, council co-chair and former CEO of the San Francisco Community Health Network, said, "We put some dollars into it because we realized we couldn't do it on the cheap."
Program organizers are considering funding options to expand the initiative to provide prostate cancer screening and educational services (Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/15).