OLEAN, N.Y. — The Kids and Cancer Fund of the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation recently made possible 10 grants to assist healthcare organizations who treat cancer patients, including one grant to the Olean General Hospital Foundation to upgrade radiation equipment at the Mildred Milliman Radiation Medicine Center.
The Kids and Cancer Committee recommended the $1,620 grant to the Olean General Hospital Foundation to honor Terry Brairton of Paul Brown Dodge and Jeep, an ardent supporter of the Kids and Cancer organization and its fundraising efforts.
The grant will help offset the cost of upgrading the center’s radiation medicine linear accelerator, which destroys cancerous tissue while preserving the patient’s non-cancerous tissue.
Roberta Truman, Mildred Milliman Radiation Medicine Center manager, said the grant helps the center in its mission to provide the very best in radiation treatment.
“(The accelerator) reduces the amount of time a patient spends on the table. For treatment on the head and neck area, a patient used to spend an average of about 30 minutes being treated,” she said. “With this piece of equipment that time is reduced to 10 minutes.”
The grant is part of a larger effort to offset the financial burden of the $1 million addition to upgrade the accelerator, she said.
The Kids and Cancer committee also recommends grants year-round from its fund at the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation to families facing the financial and emotional strain of childhood cancer. The total number of all grants from the fund for 2016 was more than $50,000.
Officials said the other nine recent grants, together totaling $13,500, are aimed at hospitals that treat pediatric patients as many from this region have to travel for specialized care.
The four following organizations all received $2,000 grants: Roswell Park Alliance Foundation ($1,000 to Carly’s Club for special events and experiences outside of the hospital for pediatric patients and $1,000 to support pediatric needs at Roswell Park); Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Erie, Pa.; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; and Women’s & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo Foundation.
The committee also approved a $3,000 grant to the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Children’s Hospital Foundation; $2,000 will be designated to the Pennies from Heaven Fund, a fund that helps to ease financial strain on parents who wish to stay with their children through treatment at the hospital, and $1,000 to the Free Care Fund.
Three organizations also received $500 grants from the fund. Grants made to Kevin Guest House and the Ronald McDonald House will support recovering cancer patients. A grant to the CURE Bears for Hope & Love Program will help purchase teddy bears for childhood cancer patients while raising childhood cancer awareness.
A grant of $1,000 to Wings Flights of Hope Inc. will help provide air transportation to sick children in need of emergency treatment.
Donations can be made to the Kids and Cancer Fund at the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation, 301 North Union St., Suite 203, or online atcattfoundation.org.
