Tour de Lis Awards $25K Grant to Cancer Program of Mary Bird Perkins and St. Tammany Parish Hospital

Grant Will Provide 11 Free Cancer Screening Events

  (Covington, La.) The Cancer Program of Mary Bird Perkins and St. Tammany Parish Hospital recently received a $25K grant from Tour de Lis to screen uninsured and under-insured adults on the Northshore. The grant will provide eleven free cancer screening events for skin, prostate, oral, breast, and colorectal cancers, targeting adults who reside in both rural and suburban communities and have barriers to primary care health services. “The Cancer Program is dedicated to educating people on the importance of screenings, looking for cancer even when a person may not have any symptoms,” said Chryl Corizzo, Cancer Program Director, St. Tammany Parish Hospital. “This grant from Tour de Lis will go a long way toward making screenings available for the most common cancers in the communities we serve. We are indeed very grateful.” Tour de Lis is a run, ride and walk that raises funds to prevent and cure cancer and help patients and their families cope with the physical and emotional challenges of a cancer diagnosis. It has been crafted to accommodate everyone from the serious riders to the more casual peddlers. Carol and Harold Asher first organized this event to honor their cousin Josh Lipschutz, who to this day is battling brain cancer. His courage is the motivation for Tour de Lis, expected to become a landmark New Orleans event. In just five years, this grass roots campaign to fight cancer has raised over $900,000 with proceeds being distributed to cancer support organizations in the Greater New Orleans area and Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG Foundation. For more than 40 years, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center has been solely dedicated to fighting cancer. Its mission is to improve survivorship and lessen the burden of cancer through expert treatment, compassionate care, early detection, research and education. For nearly 60 years, St. Tammany Parish Hospital has provided world-class healthcare close to home. Its mission as a not-for-profit hospital is to provide integrated healthcare services to the community of western St. Tammany Parish and surrounding areas. Mary Bird Perkins has worked closely with St. Tammany Parish Hospital since opening its Covington center in 1998. Together, through a new and innovative partnership, The Cancer Program of Mary Bird Perkins and St. Tammany Parish Hospital provides comprehensive cancer care that strives to positively impact the lives of cancer patients and their families. Not only do patients have access to the full spectrum of vital cancer services and high quality cancer care, but these services are readily available where it matters most – close to home, friends and family.