WARSAW — K21 Health Foundation made a recent grant to Live Well Kosciusko to help improve the coordinated effort in caring for those fighting cancer.

Live Well Kosciusko is an organization with a mission of promoting the health, well-being and engagement of the people of our local community. They have championed various initiatives including Tobacco-Free Coalition programs that encourage smoking cessation, as well as working with local businesses to develop health and wellness programming that benefits employees. 

Live Well’s most recent undertaking has been the creation of a Cancer Consortium in Kosciusko County. Through education, advocacy and assessment in a variety of areas, the Consortium’s goal is to educate the community about cancer prevention, detection and survivorship.

Under the direction of Kathy Gill, a three-time cancer survivor herself, the Consortium is working to adapt goals and initiatives from the Indiana Cancer Plan to the local level. A grant of $58,916 from K21 Health Foundation will give Live Well the resources needed to do just that.

“The statistics are staggering. Approximately two in five Kosciusko residents will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime,” said Live Well Kosciusko Executive Director Lisa Harman. “We recognized that there were many organizations in our community offering cancer services, but there was no one helping to coordinate any programming, nor trying to implement the goals of the Indiana Cancer Plan. We decided to take on that important role for our community.”

K21 President & CEO Rich Haddad said, “We are excited that Live Well Kosciusko has become such a valuable asset in our community. We are excited about the impact they are having, and are glad to help support the development and creation of the Cancer Consortium, which we hope will increase the community’s knowledge about preventing, detecting and ultimately surviving cancer.”

K21 Health Foundation exists for the benefit of Kosciusko County residents to ensure health care services are provided, and to advance prevention and healthy living.  For more information about the K21 Health Foundation, call (574) 269-5188 or visit www.k21foundation.org.