Breast cancer speaker stresses early detection

On Sunday, Kathy Gates-Ferris was standing on a stage in New York City after a Breast Cancer Walk fundraiser, looking out over a sea of pink T-shirts. The next day, she was in Enterprise preparing to speak at Tuesday’s 9th annual Coffee County Breast Cancer Forum.

Gates-Ferris is the project director for the Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund, a grassroots organization that aims to reach out to women in underserved communities, including some in the Wiregrass. Since 2000, the foundation has tapped Cicatelli Associates, Inc. to distribute the more than $40 million taken in on sales of pink-ribbon merchandise, proceeds from Breast Cancer Walks and other fundraisers.

“Avon is the largest corporate sponsor of women’s health, and Avon knows what it does best is products and cosmetics, so they needed help to handle these funds,” said Gates-Ferris, Vice President of Cicatelli. “The funds provide free or low-cost services like treatments and screenings to about 145 community-based programs.”

Gates-Ferris said the money has facilitated more than 100,000 mammograms for women who would otherwise not seek them because of lack of income or insurance.

“We wanted to make a commitment to women’s health,” she said. “And Avon has really helped empower women to be independent and work out of the home. But we also want to reach out to these women, educate them, navigate them.”

Gates-Ferris credits Lucille Latham of Coffee County Family Services with taking on the hardest work. In the last four years Latham has made sure the more than $70,000 of the foundation’s money has been put to good use in Coffee County.

“She’s been knocking on doors and breaking down barriers to reach those populations around here who would not get help otherwise,” said Gates-Ferris. “Out of 100,000 women that we reach, maybe 1 percent are diagnosed with breast cancer, and we want to try to save that 1 percent.”

Gates-Ferris said she is most excited about the foundation’s new Army of Women campaign which collaborates with the Susan Love Foundation to develop a database of women for research purposes. Women who sign up may be asked to participate in case studies, preventative research work and the connection of breast cancer to genetic and lifestyle trends.

“The goal is to reach 1 million women,” said Gates-Ferris. “It’s such a simple idea. One that makes you wonder why no one thought of it before.”

For more information, visit www.armyofwomen.org.