Andrea Ivory


Andrea Ivory is an educator, award winner and breast cancer awareness patron.

Foundation

Ivory was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. After receiving treatment and recovering fully, she found herself acclimated to help women like herself to receive treatment and procedures for breast cancer. The Women's Breast and Heart Initiative was founded by Ivory in 2005 with the goal of "providing at-risk women access to early detection and proper treatment for breast cancer". Their specific mission statement is "To change and save lives while providing at-risk women with the prevention and early detection necessary to beat breast cancer and heart disease". Early detection of breast cancer was key to saving Ivory's life, so she wanted to give others the same opportunities and resources for early detection of breast cancer so they can receive the proper treatment for full recovery.
Breast cancer hits one of every eight women. Ivory realized that women who did not have access to the proper treatment and care due to their socioeconomic status were dying at a higher rate than women who did, so she wanted to create a foundation for these women who did not have access to equally beneficial resources. At the first WBHI campaign launched in 2006, representatives knocked on over 70,000 homes in South Florida. Since then, WBHI has expanded their impact to include referrals for women who are not living in their targeted door-to-door neighborhoods. Over 500 at-risk women are helped by WBHI each year through breast cancer screenings and provisions of additional resources. In 2013, the Women's Breast and Heart Initiative started to tackle issues of heart disease as well as breast cancer. WBHI serves door-to-door awareness and education, nutrition classes and work-out sessions, and breast cancer screening and care coordination for females.
WBHI collaborates with partners in the South Florida area. One of the first partners was the Jackson Health System, which helped in bringing out the digital Mobile Mammogram Unit into Miami-Dade County neighborhoods. This collaboration also provides residents of the area with cholesterol and hypertension screenings.

Education and career

In 2013, Ivory graduated as a notable alumna from Barry University's School of Professional and Career Education. In addition to the founding of WBHI, Ivory has been a delegate in the Florida Division of the American Cancer Society's 2nd Summit on Breast Cancer and the National Breast Cancer Coalition's Advocacy Conferences and Lobby Days located in Washington, DC.

Awards

Ivory has been honored for the name of a Top 10 CNN Hero and the recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leader Award.