The Tarrant County Commissioners Court in Texas Jan. 18 voted to award a $9 million grant to Moncrief Cancer Institute to develop a comprehensive cancer screening program for underserved residents throughout the county served by all members of the Commissioners Court.
The program will include large-scale education and outreach efforts and provide screen-eligible residents free breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer screenings on Moncrief’s 18-wheeler Mobile Screening Clinic.
The grant will be awarded over three years and is part of the approximately $400 million Tarrant County is receiving from the American Rescue Plan, the federal package designed to aid in the country’s recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With this program, we are working to avoid a post-pandemic cancer crisis by providing free cancer screening services to the most vulnerable residents in Tarrant County,” Keith Argenbright, director of Moncrief Cancer Institute and professor at UT Southwestern Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a statement.
The Mobile Screening Clinic is equipped with the latest medical technologies, including digital 3D mammography and high-speed telemedicine links to cancer experts. The multilingual education campaign and community outreach begins next month.
