Glendale Memorial gets $1.7 million
Claudia Peschiutta
GLENDALE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL -- Dealing with cancer is difficult. It’s
even harder for those who cannot afford medical treatment.
Thanks to a $1.75-million grant from the Los Angeles County charity,
QueensCare, Glendale Memorial will be able to help provide free treatment
to several low-income cancer patients.
Hospital President Arnold Schaffer accepted the donation at a ceremony
Tuesday in Echo Park.
“We’re here to serve and the money allows us to better serve,” he said
later.
More than $1.5 million will be used to provide cancer treatment. Most
of the remaining money will go toward free or low-cost mammograms and
free prostate exams and cervical cancer screenings, Schaffer said.
Glendale Memorial is one of five L.A. County hospitals benefiting from
an $8-million QueensCare grant.
The money will provide treatment for breast, cervical and prostate
cancers, along with asthma and diabetes, for uninsured and low-income
county residents.
Terry Bonecutter, president of the endowment, said these conditions
are attacking many in the Latino, Korean and African-American
communities.
“We want to improve the health of the poor in Los Angeles,” he said.
Schaffer said health-care providers are frustrated when they know how
to treat a patient, but there is not enough money to do so.
“There’s is not a source of funding for that,” he said. “That’s why
this is so beautiful.”