Healthy Communities Promote Healthy Minds and Bodies

Background Information The Fulton County Department of Health Services works to ensure access to both high impact behavioral health and medical clinical services to promote the health of the county residents, and mitigate health disparities. During fiscal year 2009-2010, client's lack access to health care facilities, 31% of uninsured, underinsured, high risk women living in Fulton County did not receive mammography screenings and were placed on waiting lists for mammograms and other health care service. Methods One method Fulton County Women's Health Program used to eliminate barriers and promote healthy communities was to secure funding through a grant from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure; Atlanta Affiliate organization awarded April 1, 2011. These funds allowed 300 additional women to receive early mammography screenings and eliminated the client wait list. The funding also increased access to health care services within the Hispanic Communities. Clinical and behavior health referrals were offered to clients within their communities via the Women's Health Mobile Unit. Bilingual outreach workers were used to eliminate the language barrier. Results The outreach efforts of the program that enabled us to utilize new funds for additional screenings resulted in the delivery of more services in '10-'11 when compared to '09-10. The chart below demonstrates this increase in the number of women served after receiving funding from Susan G. Komen. Conclusion The additional funding received through Susan G. Komen for the Cure enabled the program to provide an increase in mammograms to uninsured, underinsured, high risk women in Fulton County.