Courtesy Photo Members of the Zonta Club present proceeds of the 2018 Zonta Walks for Women to MidMichigan Health Foundation. Pictured from left to right are Zonta members Melissa Chabot, Natalie Nadeau, Denise Tobias, Diane O’Connor, Jo’Lee Dorie and Karen Kamyszek; Ann Diamond, MidMichigan Health Foundation; Zonta members Mary Linton, Cindy Gabara and Tami Clewley; and Steve Hand, MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena.

ALPENA — At a recent special meeting of the Zonta Club of Alpena, members gathered to learn the history and current status of the Mammography Subsidy Fund and the women’s breast health program at MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena.

Members of the club presented MidMichigan Health Foundation a check in the amount of $1,093.02 representing proceeds from the 2018 Zonta Walks for Women. Steven Hand, imaging services manager, and Ann Diamond, development director, accepted the donation on behalf of the foundation.

During the meeting, Diamond gave a brief history of the Mammography Subsidy Fund which was instituted in 2005 to provide uninsured and underinsured women with screening mammograms. With the generosity of the Zonta Club and through the Zonta Walks for Women event, the club has donated more than $161,000 for the Mammography Subsidy Fund. Since inception, the fund has assisted approximately 2,050 women.

“It is through the generous efforts of the Zonta Club that significant awareness has been raised locally about the importance of screening mammograms,” Diamond said. “In fact, this specific fund now receives significant donations from several other events and organizations throughout the community.”

Hand provided information regarding the breast health program at MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena which includes new 3D mammography equipment and newly instituted positions of a breast navigator and breast coordinator.

“We are all very grateful for the support and partnerships that we have with community organizations like Zonta. These relationships mean the world to us; they provide support for our hospital and our patients as well as opportunities for education and advocacy,” Hand concluded.

The MidMichigan Health Foundation supports the patients and families served by MidMichigan Health by raising funds for equipment, services and programs. MidMichigan Health is a nonprofit health system headquartered in Midland, affiliated with Michigan Medicine, the health care division of the University of Michigan. MidMichigan Health covers a 23-county region with medical centers in Midland, Alpena, Alma, Clare, Gladwin, Mt. Pleasant and West Branch.

In addition to its Medical Centers, MidMichigan Health also offers both home health care and physician services, and has a strong commitment to medical education. MidMichigan Physicians Group provides urgent care and medical offices in more than 30 specialties and subspecialties including cardiology, hematology/oncology, orthopedics, vascular surgery, family medicine and more.

Currently, MidMichigan has more than 7,400 employees, volunteers and physicians and provided more than $144 million in community benefits in fiscal year 2018.