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.”