Already groups like Sense of Security, a small Denver nonprofit that serves low-income breast cancer patients throughout Colorado, have lost thousands of dollars. Sense of Security did not receive funding this year from the Denver affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, leaving a $60,000 gap in its $400,000 annual budget. Another nonprofit, Rocky Mountain Cancer Assistance, lost $70,000 of its $425,000 annual budget after two Komen grants failed to come through. Sense of Security has launched a “Restoring Hope Campaign” to raise emergency funds and is putting needy breast cancer patients on waiting lists rather than giving them cash assistance to help them afford housing, utilities and food during cancer treatments.
“I don’t like saying ‘No.’ Then you’re destroying hope,” said Rita McCoy, executive director of Sense of Security.
The Denver Komen affiliate, which serves 19 Colorado counties, had to cut grants from $2.98 million the previous year to $2.5 million effective April 1. Several small nonprofits including Sense of Security, Rocky Mountain Cancer Assistance, Native American Cancer Research and Project Angel Heart recently learned that they did not receive Denver Komen funding. The Komen affiliate in southeastern Colorado also had to cut its grants by 15 percent. Local Komen directors blame the poor economy for decreased fundraising last year. But now they fear that they will pay a hefty price for a controversy that had nothing to do with them.
Denver Komen affiliate protested national move
Employees at the Denver Komen affiliate risked their jobs by publicly opposing the national move to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. The Denver affiliate is currently funding breast cancer screening and treatment for Planned Parenthood clinics in Aurora, Greeley and Fort Collins.
“We’re concerned. What we want the community to know is that we did oppose this (national) decision. We had no say. Planned Parenthood is a critical part of breast health in our community,” said Michele Ostrander, executive director of the Denver Komen affiliate.
She said local Komen affiliates and the cancer care providers that count on them could experience “trickle-down effects” from the backlash over the national group’s attempt in December to halt funding to Planned Parenthood. Outrage over that decision prompted a reversal in February.
“I wish we had more money. That’s the concern,” Ostrander said. “If donations decrease to Komen, then our grant funds will decrease again.”
None of the Komen money raised in Colorado goes to pay salaries for national staffers, Ostrander said. Of the net proceeds, 75 percent stays in Colorado, while 25 percent goes to the national office to support research.
“We certainly are hoping that the community can refocus on our mission…to save lives and end breast cancer forever,” Ostrander said.
The southeastern Colorado Komen affiliate, which supports breast cancer programs in El Paso, Pueblo and Teller Counties, views Planned Parenthood as an ally in women’s health, but has not funded its programs since 1996.
“(The controversy) unfortunately has had an impact on what Susan G. Komen for the Cure of Southeastern Colorado does, which is to help people with breast cancer. We have only that focus,” said Paul Montville, who started as executive director for the group on April 1.
He said he’s fielded questions nonstop about the national flap and knows he’ll need to do some repair work in his community even though the relationship with Planned Parenthood is a “non-issue” in his region.
It’s unclear whether Komen fundraising will be down in Colorado, like it has been in some states that have had races this spring. Colorado’s races will take place in the fall.
“We’re really concerned, particularly because we didn’t have anything to do with it,” Montville said. “This whole thing became a public relations explosion.”
Cancer can wreck health and financies
For women on the ground, the loss in funding could make a dramatic difference.
Shelly Bordas was only 38 and had a 5-month-old son, Nathan, when she learned she had breast cancer in 2009. Her pregnancy had triggered a fast-growing cancer. Bordas’ doctors rushed her into treatment. She has since endured 26 rounds of chemotherapy and nine surgeries, including a double mastectomy. Bordas opted for the aggressive option hoping to keep cancer at bay. But, it returned in 2011.
A single mother, actor and acting teacher, Bordas had always paid for health insurance, but she has a hefty $5,000 annual deductible. During her cancer treatments and between surgeries, she has tried to keep working as a daycare aide and acting teacher, but is sometimes too sick. She applied for help from Sense of Security and will receive $500 a month for six months, crucial assistance that pays for housing and allows her to buy other essentials from diapers to food.
“I started screaming and crying,” Bordas said of the day when she learned she would receive a Sense of Security grant. “It’s really helped. I’m struggling to get back on my feet. I will be in chemo for the rest of my life. I will be having to pay a $5,000 (deductible) every year. It could be worse. I could be uninsured.
“I feel sad that there are a lot of people like me who need help. Cancer is expensive,” she said. “My only goal right now is to see my son grow up. That’s all I want.”
Dottie Marburger, 65, a nursing assistant from Fort Collins, was praying for help handling her cancer and her bills the very day that she learned she would get help.
“They’re my angels. I was asking the Lord to please help me.…The phone rang and I knew it was Sense of Security,” Marburger said.
She received a grant that covered $200 for groceries and $300 toward utilities a month for six months.
“It was a lifesaver. I was getting to the point that I couldn’t work.”
In addition to money, Marburger also said she received emotional support.
“They take an interest in you. You’re not just a number on a checklist.”
At Rocky Mountain Cancer Assistance, board president Edna Diament is determined that the group will find a way to make up for the lost Komen funding this year. Already the group had seen such a rise in demand for help that it had to cut its grants from $750 per person to $500 each. They also had to decrease income limits.
“Last year demand was so high. We just had to change our criteria,” Diament said.
Altogether the 11-year-old nonprofit has paid $2.8 million in bills for 4,551 cancer patients. Last year, 64 percent of the grants went toward rent.
“Cancer treatment is very expensive,” Diament said. We’ve bought bus passes and paid utilities. But our primary focus is housing. There are a lot of people who are the working poor. Once they stop working to get cancer treatments, they need help.
“I hope that people will not stop supporting Komen and all cancer foundations,” Diament said. “That’s my hope. We’re trying to help.”
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Lost Komen Funding
Komen Denver received $3.7 million in grant requests this year and could only fund $2.5 million.
Organizations that received grants from the Denver affiliate last year, but not this year:
◦Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center
◦American Cancer Society – Great West Division
◦Colorado Cancer Coalition – Breast Cancer Task Force
◦Native American Cancer Research
◦Project Angel Heart
◦Rocky Mountain Cancer Assistance
◦Sense of Security
◦Colorado Alliance for Health Equity and Practice
# http://www.healthpolicysolutions.org/2012/04/11/national-breast-cancer-flap-leaves-colorado-patients-suffering/
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