In the fashion world, Ralph Lauren is a world-class brand. A new cancer treatment center bearing his name in D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood hopes to build off that brand recognition, but with fewer barriers.
The Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention sits on New Jersey Avenue SE, just a block north of the Green Line’s Navy Yard stop, and it’s partnered with Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center to bring the sort of screenings and options to residents on the east side of the city who don’t have the same access others do.
“When you look at some of the major chronic diseases and illnesses, the morbidity levels for residents, especially in Ward 8, are sometimes three, four and five times higher than what you see in other parts of the city. It’s really shocking,” said Wayne Turnage, D.C.’s Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, who was there to help cut the ribbon on Monday.
“When you look at some of the consequences of those diseases, it makes you understand how there’s, on average, a 15-year difference in lifespan when you look at residents in Ward 8 (and) to a lesser degree in Ward 7, compared to the rest of the city.”
The unofficial mantra of the new center seems to be, in the words of Ralph Lauren’s son David, “I will help you.”
“It comes down to love,” said David Lauren. “It’s simple. People want to come into a center where they feel love, where they feel someone will take care of them, and where they feel the doctors are experts and professionals. But they do it with a sense of love and compassion for a community.”
But providing access and seeing people access the offerings are two different things, and it’s a challenge, Turnage admitted.
“We have to find a way to encourage persons who live at risk for all these different diseases to use the prevention services that are now available,” he said.
Noting that even most residents who live in Ward 8 are fully covered by health insurance, “The challenge here is making them understand, and making everybody understand, how do you use the health care system more effectively?”
It helps that the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention accepts Medicaid.
“If you live in Ward 8 and you’re on Medicaid, your costs, your healthcare insurance costs, are $0,” said Turnage. “No co-pays, no cost sharing.”
He hoped that would erase any hesitancy based on finances someone might have when seeking screening or other preventative measures.
“If you have a proper patient navigator, they will hold your hand through the process, from the time you walk in the door,” said Lauren.
“They will help you look at all the options for proper health care, all the ways in which you can pay for it how the government can help, how private insurers and different organizations can help, and look at every possible solution to making it a more affordable, or free process.”
“That is the mission of the navigation,” he further emphasized, “is to help you physically, mentally, emotionally and hopefully, financially.”
