Helping women: FoundCare expands medical services in West Palm and Riviera 

Breast cancer screening expansion is in partnership with The Promise Fund founded by Nancy Brinker.

It’s been a busy summer at FoundCare, the nonprofit health center devoted to providing medical services to people in need.

Last month, FoundCare and the Promise Fund opened an expanded women’s health program at the Yolette Bonnet Center on Okeechobee Boulevard in West Palm Beach.

• This initiative provides mammography and diagnostic imaging, building on the success of FoundCare’s Palm Springs program, which the center’s leaders say has served more than 10,000 women since 2020.

New center opened in Riviera in June

In June, FoundCare and the city of Riviera Beach celebrated the opening of a 20,000-square-foot health center at 3501 Broadway.

• Riviera Beach donated 2.5 acres for the new building, which has space set aside for small businesses.
• The health center provides medical, dental, vision and behavioral health care.
• The project cost $11.2 million.

At the ribbon-cutting, CEO Christopher Irizarry told WPTV that FoundCare learned the life expectancy in Riviera Beach ZIP codes is 69 years compared to 82 years in the rest of the county.

• Before the opening, about 6,000 people who live in Riviera Beach traveled to other FoundCare locations.

West Palm center to handle seven to 10 patients daily

In West Palm Beach, The Yolette Bonnet Center is scheduling appointments and expects to serve seven to 10 patients each day during its first weeks of operation.

• Medical providers will follow a model developed by The Promise Fund that tracks a patient from screening to follow-up care.

The Promise Fund, which received a grant to pay for the expansion, was founded by former U.S. diplomat Nancy Brinker. She is also the founder of the well-known Susan G. Komen foundation and Race for the Cure in honor of her sister, who died of breast cancer at age 36.

• Brinker launched The Promise Fund to help all women have access to life-saving care.

FoundCare has 40 years in Palm Beach County

FoundCare traces its origins to a grant in 1985 from what was then the Community Foundation of Palm Beach County to launch an AIDS information hotline under the auspices of Hospice of Palm Beach County.

• The following year, the organization became the Comprehensive AIDS Program of Palm Beach County or CAP to serve AIDS patients.
• The organization has evolved into a federally qualified health center. FoundCare accepts insurance and offers care to patients without insurance on a sliding scale based on family size and income.

Call 561-432-5849 or visit foundcare.org to schedule an appointment at a FoundCare clinic.