Ellen Hermanson Foundation Grants $378,000 to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Community Partners

The Ellen Hermanson Foundation has recently awarded $378,000 in grants. Recipients include Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center, OLA (Organización Latino-Americana) of Eastern Long Island, The Retreat and the Shinnecock Health Center. Administered in partnership with the Southampton Hospital Foundation and Phillips Family Cancer Center, the grants benefit the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Ellen’s Well, a program that provides psychosocial support to breast and gynecological cancer patients.

“Guided by our mission to ensure access to quality breast health care and by our core belief that health care is a human right, we are committed to work together with our partners to reach community members who need our help the most — those who experience barriers to receiving breast health care: the uninsured, the underinsured and anyone who is in need of support after receiving a breast cancer diagnosis,” said Julie Ratner, Ed.D., co-founder and board president of the Ellen Hermanson Foundation. “As the pandemic impacts our community, we know that breast cancer rates will remain high, and the needs of the at-risk population will grow. We know that our neighbors will face stress, mental health issues, and financial hardship because of a breast cancer diagnosis, and entire families will be affected. Our message is that no one is turned away from the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center for lack of insurance or inability to pay for screenings or treatment.”

In late December, the foundation’s board approved $378,000 in grants for 2022 programs in addition to reallocating $142,890 of 2021 reserves, totaling $520,890 to fund the following programs and services:

The Ellen Hermanson Breast Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for a salary for a nurse practitioner — a new position — performing community outreach, writing screening prescriptions and following patients in their breast health care; a salary for Ellen’s Well licensed clinical social worker providing group and individual therapy; a salary upgrade for a registered nurse patient navigator; funding for a Neoprobe gamma detection system to guide surgeons in targeting tissue during surgery; Technology Fund for the Radioactive Seed Locator program; Emergency Fund for screenings and diagnostic procedures; Shinnecock Health Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

Funding for the Pink Shawl Program for outreach and social assistance for breast health care micro-grants for transportation and social assistance for breast cancer patients.

For the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center for funding a bilingual licensed clinical social worker and outreach worker; and micro-grants for social assistance for breast cancer patients; and underwriting for an educational community forum about breast cancer.

For OLA (Organización Latino-Americana) of Eastern Long Island, funding for bilingual outreach; and micro-grants for social assistance for breast cancer patients.

For The Retreat, funding for bilingual outreach; and micro-grants for social assistance for breast cancer patients.

Funding for the Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert.

Underwriting for the annual Ellen Hermanson Symposium.

“Under the leadership of Medical Director Dr. Edna Kapenhas, the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center is committed to provide the most advanced technology available in a community hospital setting,” said Ratner. “My sister Ellen would be proud that the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center has earned the ranking of Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology. Our sister Emily Levin, the Ellen Hermanson Foundation co-founder who recently passed away, would be pleased to see that we are still funding topnotch technology that benefits everyone, especially by expanding our reach into the community to ensure that no one falls through the cracks.”