More than $1 Million Raised in Private Donations for Van that Will Screen for 7 Cancer Types
March 10, 2016 – Representatives from KentuckyOne Health, University of Louisville Hospital, James Graham Brown Center and the Louisville Metro Council welcomed the new Horses and Hope mobile cancer screening unit on its inaugural first stop. The unit will provide free or significantly reduced cost cancer screenings to underserved populations in the Louisville region.
“We are taking the fight against cancer on the road and into our neighborhoods,” said Ken Marshall, University of Louisville Hospital President, part of KentuckyOne Health. “The Horses and Hope Mobile Cancer Screening Unit breaks down barriers to access health care and helps deliver wellness, healing and hope to all, including the underserved.”
“The Metro Council is excited to continue our work to bring cancer screenings to our districts. The new Horses and Hope Mobile Cancer Screening Unit will bring screenings for seven types of cancer right to people’s neighborhoods throughout the year. I am thankful for the leaders at KentuckyOne Health and my council colleagues for joining this worthwhile endeavor aimed at improving our community’s health,” said Councilwoman Angela Leet, District 7
The Horses for Hope Cancer Screening Unit is the result of a partnership between the University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center and KentuckyOne Health to raise more than $1 million in private donations to pay for the new unit. The unit will focus on educating people in the Louisville region about cancer prevention and eventually offer screenings for seven types of cancer types: breast, cervical, colon, lung, prostate, skin as well as head and neck.
“Partnering with KentuckyOne to allow mobile screenings for cancer is a partnership that can save lives. By going to underserved neighborhoods and finding those individuals that would otherwise not have a screening is life changing. Early detection is so important in beating cancer,” said Councilwoman Marianne Butler, District 15
The custom-built cancer screening unit is 40 feet in length, with an exterior design featuring a Horses and Hope theme and acknowledgment of project partners and sponsors.
The interior includes a reception area with monitors for educational videos, patient changing rooms, a patient examination room, digital mammography equipment, space for supportive laboratory services and a passenger cab area. A motorized retractable awning on the outside of the coach will provide expanded space for patient reception, registration and education.
“For more than 25 years, the James Graham Brown Cancer Center has demonstrated the success of mobile cancer screening,” said Donald M. Miller, MD, PhD, director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center. “Our mobile mammography program has provided thousands of breast cancer screenings in local communities across the Commonwealth and made an impact on the fight against cancer. The Horses and Hope screening van provides additional reach across Kentucky and ability to screen for a range of additional cancers.”
Services and screenings will be delivered through the James Graham Brown Cancer Center that has a Nationally Accredited Breast Center licensed by the American College of Radiology, KentuckyOne Health and supported by the Kentucky Cancer Program.
