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INTRODUCTION: BREAST CANCER PROGRAM

Committed To Providing Information To Decrease Risk, Maximize Detection And Treatment, And Improve Understanding

For a number of years, the people of Marin County have been concerned about the excess occurrence of breast cancer in our women. The Marin County Department of Health and Human Services founded the Breast Cancer Program to begin the process of addressing this issue. We have made great inroads into a better understanding of the local issues through research and discussions, have developed partnerships with community groups committed to helping Marin’s women, have communicated our findings and recommendations to the women of Marin, and have developed the infrastructure to continue investigations into this, and other health problems. This section of the website contains information on our activities and findings, and we hope the materials will be helpful to you.

Our History:

The Breast Cancer Program began in the mid 1990’s when the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services hired a Breast Cancer Program Coordinator to work with local community groups on the issues of access to care and health education and to begin organizing around community concerns regarding breast cancer. The Department recognized that understanding and addressing the local issues related to breast cancer required additional resources, and so committed departmental resources to further development of the Program. We pursued State and Federal funding, which helped in the development of Community Epidemiology within the department of Health and Humand Services, and now houses the Breast Cancer Program. A major focus for the Community Epidemiology is investigating the breast cancer experience of the women of Marin and developing collaborations with other people within the department and outside agencies to use this information to develop programs to address breast cancer.

Our Mission:

The people in the Breast Cancer Program are dedicated to:
Advocating for greater commitment and allocation of resources at the local, state and federal level to increase our understanding of Marin’s breast cancer experience;
Conducting local breast cancer research to increase our understanding of Marin’s breast cancer experience;
Communicating research findings promptly to the Marin community;
Listening to Marin residents and responding quickly to their concerns and questions;
Partnering with providers, organizations and residents to assure that all women in Marin have aggressive breast health management on demand and sufficient support in navigating the health care system.

The goal of this work is to make available timely and accurate information to Marin residents and the agencies that serve them so that action can be taken to decrease risk, maximize detection and treatment, and improve understanding.