The San Francisco General Hospital in partnership with the Avon Foundation were on-site here at St. Anthony Foundation administering mammograms for St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic patients  through the Comprehensive Breast Care Center. This “mammo-mobile” provides vital screening services to undeserved women around San Francisco in an effort to prevent breast cancer through early detection.

Women who receive primary care at St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic are given clinical breast exams as part of routine health exams and are signed up for yearly mammogram screenings through the Comprehensive Breast Care Center.

Since its inception in 2004, the Avon Comprehensive Breast Care Center has provided over 34,000 breast screenings and more than 2,000 breast health procedures. Diagnostic procedures include digital mammography, ultrasound-guided biopsy, stereotactic biopsy, localization procedures, as well as clinical, health education and case coordination services.

The “mammo-mobile” will be making monthly on-site visits to St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic to ensure  patients have ccess to these life saving services. It is community partnerships like these  strengthen the safety net and make health care available to all.

This week is National Women’s Health Week, a week long health observance coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. At St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic we are celebrating women’s health and wellness by hosting a Women’s Health Day next Friday.

Over half the patients seen at St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic are women. They are our mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives here in the Tenderloin. These women nurture their families and tie the community together, and are more than deserving of special attention to their health and well-being.

During our Women’s Health Day, staff will focus on the women of the Tenderloin and provide exercise and nutrition education, free women’s health screenings, free harm reduction classes to prevent at-risk behaviors, and mental health sessions.

Alongside the nationwide campaign, we are doing our part to give women in our community the healthcare support necessary to encourage them to take simple steps for a longer, healthier, and happier life.

“As a senior on a fixed income, about 75% of my check goes to my housing. Thanks to St. Anthony’s I can eat every day. St. Anthony’s is a blessing.”

Subscribe to the St. Anthony Foundation YouTube Channel and watch more first hand the stories from St. Anthony’s guests and clients.

In case you didn’t know, March is National Women’s History Month.

“Women are capable of forging lasting change, starting with their families, then transforming entire communities and beyond,” states an op-ed piece co-authored by President/CEOs of three leading women’s funds, ”We know that when women are economically secure, families are economically secure and, ultimately, so are communities and nations.”

A few facts for thought:

Since 1956 St. Anthony Foundation’s Madonna Residence has provided low-income and homeless senior women the stability and support to restore their health and build community.

In California, women make up 68 percent of minimum- wage workers, making them especially vulnerable.

Annually 1,400 uninsured women rely on St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic for their health needs.

St. Anthony Dining Room has seen a 10% increase in families coming for lunch service.

In the United States, the subprime mortgage crisis is taking a higher toll on women: 32 percent of women borrowers hold sub-prime mortgages, compared with 24 percent of men.

5,500 women and 16,000 families recieved free like-new clothing from St. Anthony’s Clothing and Housewares Program.

As we observe this month learning about the amazing women who have helped build our rich city, state and national history, let’s also remember the many women who everyday are struggling to create a new legacy and history for themselves and their families.

I love my job as Advocacy Coordinator here at St. Anthony Foundation, and one of my favorite things to do is to talk politics with the women who live at St. Anthony’s Madonna Senior Center and Residence. Last month, I asked our Madonna residents if they’d like me to organize some non-partisan debate watching parties in the recreation room at the center. I wasn’t too surprised when they accepted my offer, and  I prepared for the party by trying to figure out which type of snacks would go best with our evening of political discourse.

Our Madonna residents don’t pull any punches, and they certainly aren’t shy about speaking their minds! The opinions and comments that were flying around the room while we watched the debate were significantly more entertaining and informative than the debate tracking graph at the bottom of the television screen.

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