Promise Fund expands healthcare access with free mammograms

Stacy Daniel
2 hours ago
3 min read

**Promise Fund staff stand beside a mobile mammography unit used to expand access to breast cancer screenings in the community. [Photo by Promise Fund]**

Many women miss out on mammograms because of cost or lack of transportation, insurance or a primary care doctor. Others simply do not know where to turn.

That’s where Lissette Lahoz comes in.

As a patient navigator with Promise Fund, she helps women overcome those barriers every day. She also has seen what access can make possible.

One of Promise Fund’s earliest patients came in for a routine mammogram. The screening led to a breast cancer diagnosis.

Promise Fund arranged additional testing, connected the woman with treatment and stayed with her throughout the process. A Promise Fund patient navigator went with her to her first appointment with an oncologist.

Today, that woman is a survivor.

“She did amazing,” Lahoz says.

Her story illustrates a simple truth: A mammogram can save a life, but only if a woman gets one.

**Women gather at a Promise Fund community event promoting access to breast and cervical cancer screenings. [Photo by Promise Fund]**

Every day Lahoz sees how easily women can fall through the cracks because lifesaving screenings feel out of reach. Promise Fund is working to close that gap.

Founded in 2018 by Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, Promise Fund serves uninsured, underinsured and medically underserved women in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties. The nonprofit has reached more than 145,000 women with education and advocacy. More than 27,000 women have received screenings, diagnostic services or other care, and 286 women diagnosed with cancer have been guided through treatment.

“Sometimes women have to choose between paying for a mammogram vs. bringing groceries home,” Lahoz says. “For them, it’s not a choice. Their choice is to bring food to the table.”

Such barriers disproportionately affect women who already face healthcare disparities. Lahoz says Black and Hispanic women are among those most likely to experience delayed screenings and receive later-stage diagnoses because they access care too late.

Early detection dramatically improves a woman’s chances of surviving breast cancer, making routine mammograms one of the most effective tools for saving lives.

**Promise Fund outreach events focus on connecting women with resources that help remove barriers to care. [Photo by Promise Fund]**

Promise Fund therefore is partnering with trusted community organizations this month to bring mobile mammography services into neighborhoods where women already receive care and feel comfortable seeking help.

Community partnerships are essential because women are more likely to seek preventive care when they’re referred by organizations they know and trust.

If additional testing is needed, Promise Fund’s patient navigators coordinate

diagnostic mammograms, ultrasounds and biopsies, schedule follow-up appointments, arrange transportation through Uber Health, and connect women with primary care providers if they don’t already have them.

Many of the women the organization serves have never had a regular primary care physician, leaving emergency rooms as their main option for care. Promise Fund works to change that situation by helping women establish ongoing healthcare after their screenings.

“We’re not only referring them,” Lahoz says. “We’re walking that walk alongside them.”

For Lahoz, that’s what Promise Fund is ultimately about: expanding access to healthcare and giving women the support they need every step of the journey.

“We are here to save lives,” she says. “We want to make sure that no woman is left behind.”