Kapiolani Women's Center has received support for the seventh year from the Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund to save lives with increased awareness of early detection of breast and cervical cancer.

The Breast and Cervical Cancer Control program at the Women's Center was awarded a $25,000 one-year grant to educate women from urban and rural Oahu areas and refer them to low-cost or free mammography services and clinical breast exams in their communities.

The program also will provide free breast and cervical cancer screening for low-income and uninsured women.

The program has provided information about the importance of early breast cancer detection to more than 20,000 women and referred more than 2,000 for screening mammograms and clinical breast exams since January 2002.

The Kapiolani program anticipates detection of 840 new cases of breast cancer in Hawaii this year with 130 fatalities, based upon 2008 data from the American Cancer Society.

Nationally a new case is diagnosed every three minutes and a death from breast cancer every 14 minutes, according to the Women's Center.

Cynthia Hartwell, women's health nurse practitioner at the center, said in a news release, “;With these funds we will be able to provide outreach services into rural communities like Waianae and Waimanalo in an attempt to educate and inform women about breast health and important women's health services.”;

For more information on the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program, call Hartwell at 973-4764 or Pat Oshiro at 973-3015.

To learn more about the Avon Foundation, call 866-505-AVON or visit www.avonfoundation.org. A free “;Breast Health Resource Guide”; is available in English and Spanish.