“I can say with 100-percent certainty that these CPRIT funds are making an impact on the health of Texans, especially those in the historically underserved communities where there might be high minority populations.”
Ms. Rydbeck benefitted from a $999,960 two-year grant CPRIT award- ed to Moncrief for the Breast Screening and Patient Navigation (BSPAN) project, headed by Keith Argenbright, MD, a TMA member. Moncrief’s breast screening program has a successful track record in Tarrant County, and CPRIT funds allowed it to expand into five surrounding counties: Denton, Wise, Parker, Hood, and John- son. Dr. Argenbright says these counties are part of a region that has a higher incidence of invasive breast cancer than any other part of the state. “We are try- ing to determine why that is,” he said.
Given her diagnosis, under normal
circumstances, she would have been frightened and felt alone in her quest to obtain care. But Ms. Rydbeck was for- tunate. Although she had to pay for her mammogram out of pocket, her biopsy was free, thanks to funding provided to Fort Worth’s Moncrief Cancer Institute by a grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). “I don’t know what I would have done without the CPRIT funds. It would have been very difficult. Everyone at Moncrief was wonderful; they went above and be- yond,” she said.
The Moncrief institute is an affiliate of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Simmons Can- cer Center. It is a nonprofit, community- based cancer center serving patients’ so- cial, emotional, and health needs. At press time, CPRIT had awarded
256 research, prevention, and commer- cialization grants in Texas totaling $382 million.
32 TEXAS MEDICINE July 2011 During the 2007 legislative session,
the Texas Medical Association and Texas voters supported a constitutional amend- ment establishing CPRIT and authorizing the state to issue $3 billion in bonds to fund cancer research, prevention, and services in Texas. CPRIT awards grants for cancer-related research and for can- cer prevention programs and services by public and private Texas entities. Immediately after her diagnosis, Ms.
Rydbeck says, breast specialists from the Joan Katz Breast Center at Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth met with her to discuss her treatment op- tions. With their help, she scheduled a mastectomy and subsequent reconstruc- tive surgery. CPRIT funds don’t cover cancer treatment, but Ms. Rydbeck quali- fied for Medicaid coverage. “The breast specialists visited me in the hospital after my surgery both times. They let me know that if I needed any- thing, they were available to help 24/7,” she said.
“We think there are many reasons — from the educational attainment levels of the population, to lack of access to health insurance, to the number of immigrants we have in this portion of the state, to geographic issues associated with access to screening facilities. How all of those interact with one another is something we’re trying to figure out.” Dr. Argenbright hopes that by col- lecting data through the breast cancer screening program, researchers can start projects to analyze the information and ultimately answer that question. He adds that it will take years before the project has collected the volume of data that will allow for such in-depth analysis. The breast cancer screening project
works with local community leaders and health care professionals to increase ac- cess to breast cancer screening, diagnos- tic mammograms, and biopsies. “Within the first 10 months of the proj- ect, 4,946 women have been reached. Of those, the Moncrief staff has done almost 1,500 mammograms and found 34 breast cancers. We’re finding a major- ity of these cancers in their early stages when they’re curable,” Dr. Argenbright said.
He adds that about half of the wom-
en who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer are younger than 50. He says Moncrief will submit a new proposal to CPRIT in September to expand the pro- gram into 11 additional counties. Ms. Rydbeck hopes other Texans will
be fortunate enough to take advantage of the services made possible through CPRIT funding.
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