Founder and Executive Director, Kentucky Pink Connection
LW-vicki-blevins (2 of 2)
Photo by Mick Jeffries
As the founder and executive director of the Kentucky Pink Connection, Vicki Blevins and her team have helped navigate breast-cancer care for more than 2,800 uninsured or under-insured women over the past four years, in the central and eastern part of the state alone.
“We’ve identified the need, and I take that as our phone rings off the hook,” said Blevins, adding that the need has steadily risen since the economy crashed. “Our safety net is always being challenged because there’s such a need, and this economy has fueled that.”
Blevins’ initial introduction to breast-cancer care was actually not with the nonprofit sector but with a retail shop she co-founded in 1998 called VDK Turning Point, which specializes in clothing and accessories for women who have undergone breast cancer treatments. She sold the store in 2005 to Grogan’s Health Care but considers her experience working with breast-cancer patients in the intimate dressing room setting a significant stepping stone to the work she does today.
“When they’re in that setting, and they have their guard down — because you’re not the family members, you’re not the caregiver, but you’re compassionate enough to be fitting them — they open up to you,” Blevins said. “That fitting room experience is where I really discovered all the barriers that women face from a diagnosis.”
Those barriers, as Blevins came to discover, can include anything from transportation to childcare; treatment dollars to education about how the health-care system works.
“Some women say, ‘I was frozen in the doctor’s office — I didn’t know what questions to ask,’” she said. “We follow up with every patient to see how the appointment went. We keep in contact with them while they’re receiving care, so we can track their progress and see how they’re doing.”
Established as a 501(c)3 in 2008, the Kentucky Pink Connection provides assistance for all of these barriers and more. The nonprofit is modeled after a program established by Harold T. Freeman in Harlem, N.Y. Blevins was one of the first members of a public training course led by Freeman, who is credited by many as the founder of patient navigation.
Blevins, who studied business administration and organizational management at the Kentucky Business College and Midway College, considers her background in business a huge asset in keeping her nonprofit afloat amidst the struggling economy.
“I wanted to have a very good business plan because I treat this as a business,” Blevins said. “Even though we’re a 501(c)3, you need a good business plan.”
If there is one message Blevins would like to get across to the women in Kentucky whom she serves, it’s the importance of having screenings early and often.
“Screenings save lives,” she said. “It’s very, very important.”
After that, she wants to let women who have been diagnosed know that they are not alone.
“Women who feel like they have support do much better in recovery,” she said. “We want to be that organization that provides that support.”