Paying It Forward
After surviving breast cancer, philanthropist and former United States ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Beatrice W. Welters wanted to “pay it forward” by educating women about the importance of early detection and treatment. Consequently, the Beatrice W. Welters Breast Health Outreach and Navigation Program at Perlmutter Cancer Center was created in 2016.
A Critically Important Focus
Our target populations include African-American/Black women, who are twice as likely to have aggressive types of breast cancer that are harder to treat, and Hispanic and Latinx women, for whom breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death. The Welters Program educates women about breast cancer and the paramount importance of screening. Early screening can help identify cancer when it can be most effectively treated.
The program also assists women in navigating the healthcare system through one-on-one guidance and direct interaction. Patient navigators, who are the key differentiators of program, go into communities to meet the women we seek to serve, where they live. The navigators play a pivotal role in supporting women—through one-to-one interaction—to negotiate the sometimes complex health care system. This unique approach supports women from screening through diagnosis to treatment, into, and through survivorship. Patient navigators identify women who could benefit from breast cancer screening through outreach and educational programs in community venues that women routinely visit, such as beauty salons, churches, and mosques.
Growth of the program includes expanding this program into new communities by adding additional navigators, getting more women into clinical trials, providing genetic counseling, and continuing to share our Welters Program experiences with other healthcare systems and providers seeking to address the issues of inequity of access and service for women of color.