Women of WORTH clinic receives 3 grants

Women of WORTH clinic receives 3 grants
by Staff Reports
09.20.11 - 08:45 am
Marilyn Ringstaff’s Women of W.O.R.T.H. clinic is a nonprofit organization that provides low-cost women’s health services including pap smears, birth control and STD testing. (Kaitlin Beard, RN-T.com)
Rome’s Women of Worth Inc. clinic has been chosen to receive a grant award in the amount of $5,000 to support its Cervical Cancer Screening Project.

The CDC-sponsored American Psychological Association Socioeconomic Status Related Cancer Disparities program awarded the grant.

The grant is awarded in the spirit of providing resources and supporting efforts to improve cancer health outcomes for underserved populations. SESRCD states that “the grants committee was very impressed with the organization’s work toward cancer prevention and is extremely proud that SESRCD is able to support its efforts in the community.”

The clinic plans to conduct educational events for women’s groups regarding cervical cancer prevention and the availability of other community resources.

Clinic volunteers Kristen Sheeley and Corina Zarkowski are in charge of planning all events.

WORTH plans to provide free exams and Pap smears to 50 uninsured women who could not otherwise afford to have preventive health screening. WORTH also plans to educate and vaccinate 50 young men and women with the Gardasil vaccine.

The first Free Pap Smear screening day is planned for Oct. 21. The first day will be aimed at screening for Floyd County’s Hispanic population. Interpreters will be available and women may call 706-232-3408 to make an appointment. More about upcoming events will be posted on the clinic’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/

womenareworthit.

The WORTH clinic also recently received a $1,000 grant to update its computer equipment from Rome ReSale. The clinic is now using electronic medical records.

In addition, the clinic received a $1,000 grant from Walmart, which they will use for its building fund.

According to Marilyn Ringstaff, CEO of WORTH, the clinic’s mission is to improve the health status of women in Georgia.

“Cervical cancer is preventable with vaccination and timely Pap screening, and the cancer is treatable when found in early stages. But in the U.S., after breast cancer, cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women ages 20 to 39,” she said.

She noted that Georgia’s rates of preventable cervical cancers are unacceptably high because women cannot afford to have a Pap smear.

“More than 20 percent of women in Northwest Georgia have no medical insurance and only 72 percent of uninsured women in Georgia have regular Pap screening. As a result, every year in Georgia over 400 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and around 120 women die from this preventable cancer,” said Ringstaff.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the rate of women diagnosed with late stage or untreatable cervical cancers is high in Georgia.

“Just within the last calendar year, the WORTH clinic has diagnosed at least 10 high-grade cervical abnormalities and treatable cancers for uninsured women. WORTH was able to get these women referred into the early treatment,” she said.

The nonprofit WORTH clinic was established in 2008 and provides gynecological care at affordable rates to women of all ages and with any insurance status.

The clinic is located at 1513 Dean St. in Rome and may be reached at 706-232-3408 or at info@womenareworthit.org.

© rn-t.com 2011