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In 1988, Jan Donlea, from Covenant Medical Center, and Gail Nielson, from Allen Memorial Hospital collaborated to form a community wide breasts cancer awareness committee. Their goals were to increase mammography utilization and to provide a breast cancer support group. The Metro Council of Hospitals funded their efforts, and the Cedar Valley Breast Cancer Awareness Committee (CVCBCA) was born.
Several Committees were also born, and committee members joined the subcommittee they were interested in and that would best fit with their personal skills and resource.
Funds were raised, and in October 1994, Barbara Brandon Artis was brought to Waterloo to present her one-woman play, Sister, Girl to a full house. This made quite an impression throughout the state, and inspired the American Cancer Society to bring the play to four cities in IOwa in October 1995, with and encore performance in Waterloo.
In 1995, Black Hawk County Department of Public Health was awarded a Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection grant, with the Cedar Valley Committee for Breast Cancer Awareness facilitating this grant. It provided free screening to women who met income guidelines.
In June 1999, facilitation of the grant was turned over to the Allen Women's Health Center, and the program was known locally as Women Fifty-Plus. Then in January 2001 coordination of the program shifted to the Black Hawk County Health Department. During that time, the Iowa Department of Public Health requested the program be titled "Care for Yourself". The CVCBCA remains an active partner to promote the program.
The MCH encouraged the CVCBCA to expand their organization to include other cancers. In 1997, the name was changed to the Cedar Valley Cancer Committee. Under that, the Beyond Pink TEAM remains the most active and most organized. The Beyond Pink TEAM still has the original subcommittees, but added the Care for Yourself program and the Newsletter Committee, which publishes a quarterly newsletter for breast cancer survivors. Also, new in 1998, is Iowa Breast Cancer Edu-Action where besides education, advocacy is the focus of the subcommittee.
In October 1998, a luncheon was held to celebrate the accomplishments of the past ten years. This has become an annual tradition and we continue to get exceptional guest speakers.
Today, we continue to grow and make more of a presence in the community each year. More than 25 breast cancers were found through the Coupon Campaigns. Nearly 500 women are served annually by the Care for Yourself program. The breast cancer support group, Touch of Courage, has grown in capacity, giving support to more women than we wish needed the group. The Iowa Breast Cancer Resource Guide, a wonderful tool for breast cancer patients and survivors. Each quarter 1,500 Touch of Courage Connection newsletter and distributed.
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