- Aims to screen 15,000 women in Wyoming through a new mobile mammogram van with GE technology and a nonprofit grant program to support expenses for uninsured women
- One third of Wyoming women never get screened mostly due to long travel distances to screening facility -- on average about 70 miles
- Part of GE's $1 billion global cancer commitment that works to accelerate cancer innovation and improve care for 10 million patients by 2020
CHEYENNE, Wyo.--27 June 2012-- GE (NYSE: GE) today deployed a new mobile mammography van to travel across the state of Wyoming to increase access to breast cancer screenings. The van is part of the WY Women First Program, a collaboration among GE, the State of Wyoming and Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, which works to increase access to mammography screenings in one of the most rural states in the United States.
GE Wyoming Women First launch speakers, Governor Matt Mead, First Lady Carol Mead, Lynn Erdman, VP of Community Health, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Sue Siegel, CEO GE Healthymagination and Dr. Wendy Braund, State Health Officer Wyoming Department of Health. Photo: Leah Yetter for GE
According to the Wyoming Department of Health, the average distance to a mammography screening facility in Wyoming is 70 miles. The 2010 Center of Disease Control study analyzing breast cancer screening rates found the overall screening rate for Wyoming women 40 and older is 67.3 percent, compared to the United States median rate of 75.6 percent. Wyoming breast screening rates ranks among the lowest in the United States at 48th place.
"The First Lady and I commend GE and its partners for bringing mammography screenings directly to the women of our state," Governor Matt Mead said. "We believe that innovative ideas and technologies, like the mammography van, are excellent ways to increase access to preventative healthcare. The van will also raise awareness about the importance of screenings."
The mobile mammography van will be equipped with GE Healthcare's Senographe Essential technology, a full-field digital mammography system designed to be a flexible screening unit.
In addition to the launch of the mobile mammography van, Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced today it will grant $1.2 million to three nonprofit organizations to offer mammograms, with no-out-of pocket costs, to Wyoming women without insurance. The nonprofit grantees are: Women's Wellness at Wyoming Migrant Health, Wyoming Foundation for Cancer Care and The Caring Foundation of Wyoming.
This grant is in addition to the more than $2.5 million spent by Komen's Wyoming Affiliate since 1996 to support critical programs that meet breast cancer needs for women across the state.
Lynn Erdman, Komen's national vice president of community health said, "One of the major barriers to screening is access: physical access, which will be addressed with the mammovan, and financial access. Our grants are designed to remove the cost barrier for uninsured women."
Combining the mammovan and grant program, WY Women First aims to screen 15,000 women over the age of 40 in Wyoming by July 2013. Women interested in the van's route as well as opportunities for screenings can visit wywomenfirst.com.
Sue Siegel, CEO healthymagination, GE said, "The WY Women First program is a key component of healthymagination's commitment to increase access to quality care. Through innovative collaboration, GE is at work deploying tools to fight breast cancer so that one day cancer can become not only a curable disease but ultimately, a preventable one."
Launched in September, WY Women First is part of GE's healthymagination commitment to accelerate cancer innovation by investing $1 billion in cancer technology research and development as well as improve care for 10 million cancer patients around the world by 2020.
Broadcast Footage of the Van: http://www.tiltmedia.com/GE/
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and helping to cure the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
About GE's healthymagination Initiative
Launched in May 2009, GE's healthymagination is a $6 billion global commitment to provide better health for more people by lowering cost, increasing access and improving quality. GE has committed that by 2015 it will:
- Invest $6 billion in research and development and financing to launch at least 100 innovations that will help deliver better care to more people at lower cost.
- Reach 100 million more people every year with services and technologies essential for health.
- Partner with GE employees and their families around the world to help them live and work in the healthiest way possible, decrease health-related absences, and strive to limit the growing cost of health care.
More information at www.healthymagination.com
About Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer. Today, Susan G. Komen for the Cure works to end breast cancer in the U.S. and throughout the world through ground-breaking research, community health outreach, advocacy and programs in more than 50 countries with a special focus on low-resource and developing nations. Visit komen.org. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
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Megan (Parker) Newhouse
GE Corporate
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