The Moody Foundation has made a $15 million gift to help create a new comprehensive breast center at Parkland Health & Hospital System, Parkland Foundation and the Moody Foundation announced in a press release. The lead gift to the fundraising effort will be recognized by naming the new center the Moody Breast Health Center at Parkland. This gift has brought the fundraising effort for new center to more than $30 million.
“For thousands of patients per year, the Moody Breast Health Center will speed up the time between screening, diagnosis and treatment. Faster treatment will help save more lives,” said Frances Moody-Dahlberg, Chairman and Executive Director, Moody Foundation. “The Moody Foundation is proud to help more breast cancer patients become breast cancer survivors.”
The new center will bring together breast health services under one roof, making screenings, treatment and follow-up care more convenient for patients. The new center will offer advanced tomosynthesis screening technology and expanded genetic counseling. Along with breast imaging, the center will house a multidisciplinary team working together in the same space, improving continuity of care and leading to better outcomes for patients while also providing a pathway to achieving national accreditation.
Parkland treats 20 percent of all breast cancer cases in Dallas County, and that number is expected to rise as the Health Care Advisory Board predicts a 15 percent increase in breast cancer incidence in Dallas County over the next five years. The patients cared for at Parkland are racially and ethnically diverse, often younger and diagnosed at later stages in their disease than national and regional norms. Most are uninsured or underinsured and rely on Parkland, the only public health system in Dallas County, for care and treatment.
“So many of our patients don’t have anywhere else to go to receive the life-saving care they need,” said W. Phil Evans, MD, FACR, FSBI, Clinical Professor and Division Chief, Breast Imaging, George and Carol Poston Professorship in Breast Cancer Research, and Director, UT Southwestern Center for Breast Care. “They need to have the opportunity to be screened like other women in the community, to have cancer found early, and to be treated for the best chance of survival. Due to advances in screening and treatment, the death rate from breast cancer has decreased by 40 percent since 1990. We want our patients to have this benefit.”
Find out more here.
ABOUT PARKLAND HEALTH & HOSPITAL SYSTEM
Parkland Health & Hospital System first opened its doors in 1894 and is now one of the largest public hospital systems in the country. The hospital averages more than 1 million patient visits annually. Services include a Level I Trauma Center, the second largest civilian burn center in the U.S. and a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The system also includes 20 community-based clinics, including primary care and women’s clinics, 12 school-based clinics and numerous outreach and education programs. Parkland is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Find out more on the hospital’s website.
