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Winston-Salem, NC - The Breast Clinic at Forsyth Medical Center and the Forsyth Medical Center Foundation have received a $10,000 grant from the North Carolina Triad Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation to expand mammography services to needy women. The grant will be used to provide mammograms to women who do not have health insurance and cannot afford to pay for the procedures themselves.

"Mammography is the gold standard for screening women ages 40 and older for breast cancer," says Susanne Hill, director of The Breast Clinic. "In many cases, it can identify cancers and can identify cancerous cells before they are large enough to be felt during a self-breast exam."

Hill says this early detection is key in the battle against breast cancer. With early detection, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer patients is about 96 percent.

Although the American Cancer Society recommends that all women 40 and older receive an annual mammogram, more than half of uninsured women in that age group fail to have a mammogram every two years. One reason is cost. Without insurance, a screening mammogram generally costs between $100 and $150, not including the costs associated with a doctors office visit.

"This grant will help us bring a vital diagnostic tool to the women who forgo mammograms because they cannot afford them," Hill says. "By screening these women, we can identify breast cancer in its earliest stages and plan the most effective treatment."

Over the last 25 years, The Breast Clinic has become one of the largest single-site breast imaging centers in the Southeast.

Novant Health is a not-for-profit healthcare system in western North Carolina, serving people in 32 counties reaching from southern Virginia to northern South Carolina. Novant and the majority of its facilities are 501(C)3, private, community organizations.

The healthcare system consists of seven hospitals in the Triad and Charlotte markets: Forsyth Medical Center, Medical Park Hospital, and Thomasville Medical Center in the Triad market: Presbyterian Hospital, Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville and Presbyterian Hospital Matthews of the Charlotte market. Other facilities and programs of Novant Health include three philanthropic foundations, two nursing home and senior residential facilities, physician clinics, outpatient surgery and diagnostic centers, rehabilitation programs and community health outreach programs.