Florida Breast Health Initiative Founder Goes Door to Door to Beat Breast Cancer

Learn about Andrea Ivory, a breast cancer survivor who created a nonprofit dedicated to helping low income women prevent and treat breast cancer.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on October 27 2009

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we’re betting you’ve seen plenty of pink ribbons around your neighborhood. Maybe you’ve participated in a fundraising walk or run, or attended a charity auction for the Susan G. Komens Foundation or another wonderful breast cancer charity. There are so many ways to help the cause (click here to find a few)—but how many of us dedicate our lives to this battle all year long?

Andrea Ivory, for one. This 50-year-old Miami resident is founder of the innovative non-profit group Florida Breast Health Initiative, and for the past three years, she and her supporters have been going door-to-door to knock out breast cancer, one woman at a time.

Since 2006, Ivory, her co-workers, and her volunteers have knocked on more than 20,000 doors in the Miami area, seeking out low-income women without health insurance. Because most uninsured women do not receive the routine mammograms that can detect breast cancer while it is easily treatable, Ivory and her group help these women gain access to educational services and free or low-cost mammogram screenings. So far, they’ve facilitated more than 600 mammograms, which have uncovered four cases of breast cancer—and very likely saving those women’s lives.

Ivory’s mission is inspired by her own experience: at one of her routine mammograms five years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy to remove the tumors, and has been cancer-free since then. But she realized that if she hadn’t had a good health insurance plan, she may not have found out about her tumors until they had spread and become inoperable.

Ivory knew there were thousands of women in her city who may not be as lucky as she was, and she soon realized that it was up to her to help them increase their chances. That year, she and her husband Willie put $7,000 of their own savings into incorporating the Florida Breast Health Initiative as a non-profit organization. 

The thousands of women that Ivory and her team have helped are grateful for her tireless services. ``I know so many women, in their 50s and 60s, who have never had a mammogram or a pap smear because they’re poor, they don’t have insurance,’’ Elizabeth Aguayo, who received a free mammogram through the organization, told the Miami Herald. ``What Andrea is doing is a huge thing.’‘

Aguayo’s 15-year-old daughter, Jessica Ortiz, was so moved by what the group is doing that she has become a volunteer for the Florida Breast Health Initiative. ``At first I did it to help my mom, but now I want to keep working with Andrea through high school and college,’’ she said.

Ivory hopes to eventually expand the non-profit to a national level. There are millions of doors to be knocked on—and millions of lives to be saved.

Learn more about the Florida Breast Health Initiative at their website.

Filed under: Health and Wellbeing, Heroes, Non-Profits,

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