| October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Throughout October, visit your local Safeway store and “round up” your purchase in support of breast cancer. Shoppers’ donations will benefit breast cancer research at Providence Cancer Center and other local organizations working with Susan G. Komen for the Cure. It may not seem like donating a little change at the check-out counter would make much of a difference, but it does – a big one. Donations from the 2007 and 2008 October Safeway campaigns have funded all of these programs:
The Safeway Breast Cancer Research Laboratory
Funded by $1 million in donations, the new Safeway Breast Cancer Research Laboratory has been established at Providence Cancer Center. Laboratory chief Will Redmond, Ph.D., is designing new breast cancer research projects in collaboration with our medical oncologists with the hope that we can bring new therapies to patients.
A breast cancer vaccine clinical trial
Donations also are fully funding a Phase I clinical trial for women with advanced and triple-negative breast cancer. The trial will investigate a breast cancer cell-line vaccine designed to boost patients’ immune systems to destroy tumors. Specifically, funds have been used to prepare and perform FDA-required testing on the cell line. Bernie Fox, Ph.D., chief of the Laboratory of Molecular and Tumor Immunology, is leading the development of the trial in collaboration with Alison Conlin, M.D., medical oncologist, and Andrew Weinberg, Ph.D., chief of the Laboratory of Basic Immunology.
A clinical trial of laser surgery for lumpectomies
Funding support of $400,000 has helped launch a clinical trial of a new laser surgery technique for lumpectomies. The “Optical Wire Lumpectomy” clinical trial, led by Scott Prahl, Ph.D., and his team at Providence’s Oregon Medical Laser Center, is open to 150 women. This study will test the effectiveness of a new surgical technique using a laser to better identify and remove all of the cancerous tissue during lumpectomies. Typically, more than half of women who have a lumpectomy need to have another surgery to remove cancerous tissue that was missed the first time. It is our hope that this technology will reduce the number of multiple surgeries for women, reduce discomfort, improve cosmetic and overall outcomes, and reduce health care costs.
A new Breast Health Registry
Funded by $125,000 in donations, our newly launched Breast Health Registry will make it possible to collect and analyze data to improve care for breast cancer patients and help set the standards for breast cancer care in the United States. Providence St. Vincent and Providence Portland Medical Centers provide over 40,000 mammograms each year – far more than anyone else in Oregon and Southwest Washington. This large volume of patients provides the opportunity to collect great volumes of data to answer such questions as:
- When is it most effective to use MRI screening?
- How can we identify and care for women who may be genetically predisposed to developing breast cancer?
- Why do Providence patients with stage 4 breast cancer have survival rates that are better than the national average?
Breast cancer screening follow-up for low-income women
Providence Milwaukie Hospital receives grant funds from other sources to provide free mammograms for low-income women. The Safeway round-up program helps cover the costs of providing follow-up screenings for these women if their mammogram results are abnormal.
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