Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Ryan Community Health Centers, Breast Cancer Survivors Call on New York State to Expand Breast Cancer Screening, Treatment Programs

NEW YORK, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ — On January 8, representatives from the Greater New York City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure will join breast cancer survivors, health experts and advocates at the Ryan-NENA Community Health Center to release a revealing report describing gaps in New York’s public health policies. These gaps make breast cancer deadlier for women of color, women who are uninsured and those from low-income households. Advocates will call for expanded screening and treatment programs on the eve of Governor Spitzer’s State of the State address.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070122/NYM084LOGO)

This event marks the seventeenth stop of the Komen Community Challenge, a 25-city campaign to elevate breast cancer on the national agenda and to draw attention to disparities in breast cancer mortality. Uninsured women are more likely to receive a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis and are 30 to 50 percent more likely to die from the disease than women with insurance. Nationwide, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. In 2007, it is estimated that more than 12,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in New York State, and more than 2,500 died from the disease.

Before the press conference members of the media are invited to tour the host facility, the Ryan-NENA Community Health Center, which receives a Komen grant for coordinating breast cancer screening and treatment for uninsured and underinsured low-income women.

   WHAT:   Press Conference and Tour of Ryan-NENA Community Health Center    WHO:    Theresa Racine, breast cancer survivor and Harlem resident           Shelley Fuld Nasso, Director of Public Policy for Susan G. Komen            for the Cure           Mary Haviland, Director of Grants and Policy, Komen Greater NYC            Affiliate           Kathy Gruber, Executive Director, Ryan-NENA Community Health, and            breast cancer survivor           Harold Freeman, M.D., President and Founder, Ralph Lauren Center            for Cancer Care and Prevention           Marya Gilborn, Director of Social Services, The Family Center           (Gilborn works with breast cancer patients who do not have the            means or coverage to get proper access to treatment)    WHEN:   Tuesday, January 8, 2008           9:45 – 10:50 a.m. — Tour of health center for media only           11:00 a.m. — Press conference    WHERE:  Ryan-NENA Community Health Center           279 East 3rd Street (between Aves. D & C), MANHATTAN  

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070122/NYM084LOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Susan G. Komen for the Cure

CONTACT: Dan Klotz, +1-917-438-4613, cell, +1-347-307-2866,dklotz@mrss.com, or Ben Grossman Cohen, +1-202-478-6128, cell, +1-917-282-8546, bgrossman-cohen@mrss.com, both for Susan G. Komen for the Cure; or SidM. Dinsay, +1-917-370-8631, sid.dinsay@dkcnews.com, for Ryan-NENA

Web site: http://www.komen.org/