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Pink Runway Project is a family-run nonprofit closing the gap between Maine's breast cancer patients and the care they deserve. We focus on the rural communities where Maine's highest cancer rates meet some of its hardest healthcare access barriers.
Maine has one of the highest breast cancer incidence rates in the country, and rural patients face the steepest barriers to care. Behind every statistic is a family making impossible choices.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Maine women — and our incidence rate is among the highest in the country.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the U.S. Early detection and quality care are critical to survival.
Patients in Aroostook and Washington counties must travel more than 100 miles for inpatient cancer treatment — often through winter weather.
Down from 76 in 2017. Most practice in southern Maine, far from the rural patients who need them most.
Pink Runway Project closes the gap between Maine's breast cancer patients and the care they deserve. We focus on rural Maine, where the country's highest cancer rates meet some of its hardest healthcare access barriers. Through patient navigation, support services, and the relationships we're building with hospitals, providers, and communities, we make sure no Mainer faces breast cancer alone.
We are working toward an accredited breast cancer center in Central Maine — a place where patients and their families get the highest standard of care without traveling hours to Southern Maine. This will take years, partners, and patience. We're building it through ClearPath, our patient navigation platform, and through the relationships we're forming across Maine.
Pink Runway Project is still in the early stages of development. Our work continues to evolve as we listen, learn, and build partnerships across Maine. These three programs — together honoring Fran Branch's memory — support patients today while building toward long-term improvements in care.
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No patient should have to choose between paying for gas to get to treatment and meeting basic needs at home. We're developing programs to provide limited assistance for transportation, lodging, and other practical barriers that make accessing care especially difficult for patients traveling long distances across Maine.
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ClearPath is a navigation platform designed to help patients and families more easily identify breast cancer care and supportive resources throughout Maine. Over time, the platform will include care navigation tools, resource directories, transportation information, and other patient-centered supports.
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Our long-term vision is to help expand access to high-quality specialty breast cancer care in rural Maine through collaboration and partnership-building. This work is in its earliest phases, but we believe every Mainer deserves access to timely, high-quality care closer to home.
Closing Maine's cancer care gap will take years. It will take partners, advocates, donors, and patients who believe rural Mainers deserve the same care anyone else does. If you do, there's a place for you in this work.
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