Antrim County High Tea for Breast Cancer Prevention Helping those in need:

Welcome

About ACHT

The Antrim County High Tea for Breast Cancer Prevention (ACHT) is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization established three years ago with a mission to:

“… provide awareness and education, eligibility, screening and initial medical testing for breast cancer. The primary focus will be to assist all individuals living within Antrim County, Michigan who are not otherwise covered by public or private medical programs and whose personal financial capability would discourage preventative testing.”

ACHT began simply driven by two local women who wanted to make a difference in their community. Today we are supported by over 550 individuals and more than 200 local businesses. We were especially honored to have been awarded a Great Lakes Energy People’s Fund grant for 2007. This is an all volunteer effort in which all the funds collected are used to directly support Antrim County residents.

We have partnered with the Health Department of Northwest Michigan and Munson Medical Center for screening, testing and follow-up. While Antrim County represents 25% of the population the Health Agency administers, it has historically used only 10% of the available healthcare slots. Lacking the medical infrastructure of the other counties, we have to get more creative to get the message delivered throughout the county. From its early beginnings ACHT has raised over $48,000 and has spent or committed 90% of that towards our mission. Roughly 45% of our funds go towards direct medical testing, 35% for education and awareness and 20% for discretionary medical expenses.

In 2007 alone, ACHT has:

Spent $4,500 to screen 22 women after being notified by the Health Department that they had exhausted their funds for the year.

Added $6,000 to its medical aid fund, administered by the Health Department, to assist breast cancer patients with related uncovered medical costs.

Budgeted $10,000 to fund efforts, over the next year, to create awareness and educate county residents about breast cancer prevention.

Increased the number of slots available to uninsured Antrim County residents for breast cancer treatment from 88 to 146 by:

Spending $10,000 to purchase 25 additional caseloads
Negotiated for an additional 33 caseloads based on our education program’s success in getting the message out.

Sponsored an annual Women’s Wellness Day, which drew 160 women this year to a full day of health and wellness education.

Provided individual and group support and follow up.

Increased its education and awareness efforts through speaking engagements, radio & TV coverage, adds, flyers and brochures designed to get the word out to the community.

Unfortunately, Antrim County has historically had breast cancer incident and morality rates which were higher than our state’s average. Based on this data we can expect 15-25 incidents and 4-10 deaths each year. So while great progress has been made in reducing the mortality rates we still have a significant challenge in front of us.

Despite this initial success there is still so much more that can be done and we need your support to reach our goals:

Based on Health Department estimates there are at least 350 uninsured women who meet their guidelines for coverage.

But our goal is to support anyone within the County who should have breast cancer screening and is unable to do so.

ACHT continues to fund a mammography assistance fund through Munson Medical Center which is designed to aid those in need who don’t align with State and Federal program guidelines.

Our biggest challenge is identifying and educating those at greatest risk and to make sure we are getting 8-10 people tested every month.