The tenth annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer season continued with the Avon Walk Chicago this past weekend, which raised $6.3 million to advance access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer. The Avon Walk Chicago, the fourth of nine Avon Walks this year, attracted more than 2,800 participants from 39 states and Washington, D.C., as well as Canada.

Carol Kurzig, president of the Avon Foundation for Women, announced during the Closing Ceremony a total of more than $3.79 million in grants to ten local Chicago organizations, ensuring the funds raised immediately benefit the community. Saint Anthony Hospital was one of the ten grantees and received $250,000 to support the purchase of digital mammography equipment that will improve detection services to patients in its service area which includes North Lawndale, Little Village, Pilsen, Back of the Yards, Brighton Park, McKinley Park, Cicero and Berwyn.

“We appreciate this generous grant. As a community hospital, we rely on support from donors like the Avon Foundation to enable us to provide patients in our community with state-of-the-art equipment for their care” states Guy A. Medaglia, president and CEO. Saint Anthony Hospital conducted more than 2,450 mammograms in 2011, of which, 77 percent were Latinos. This project will increase the number of appointment times for screening and diagnostic mammograms by 40 percent and, subsequently, reduce the wait time for mammogram results.