From Too Late to In Time: How Gavers Helps Patients Get Screened Before Emergency Strikes
Imagine you finally work up the courage to see a doctor—after months, maybe years, of putting it off, only to hear these words: We’re concerned. You need this test. And then comes the cost: $800.
For most people, the potential diagnosis is scary enough. For someone lacking insurance and already choosing between rent, groceries, and gas to get to work, that statement can signal the end of the road.
Yet that’s the reality Family Health Partnership Clinic (FHPC) confronts every day in McHenry County, Illinois—and why the partnership with Gavers Community Cancer Foundation has become such a powerful lifeline.
“We serve people in the county who don’t have any health insurance—and no public aid. These are people with literally no other options,” said Suzanne Hoban, executive director of Family Health Partnership Clinic.
“We see about 1,700 individuals each year and log roughly 7,000 patient visits. Obviously, these aren’t just a once-a-year checkups. People come to us with real, ongoing needs.”
As the clinic marks its 30-year anniversary, that mission has never been more essential—or more strained. Demand is rising, barriers are multiplying, and the cost of late-stage illness is devastating.
And yet, because of Gavers, hundreds of patients have seen their cancer journeys change in tangible, life-saving ways.
When Delayed Care Becomes a Crisis
Many of the clinic’s patients arrive after postponing care for years. Not because they don’t care—but because they can’t risk the consequences of seeking help in a system that often feels unreachable.
“A lot of people coming in have put off care for so long,” Hoban said. “Something that could have been treated earlier is much more significant now. Our patients’ needs are complex, and yes, the diagnosis can include cancer. Sometimes too late to initiate treatment.”
It’s a sobering statement—and one that carries the weight of what happens when early detection is replaced by waiting and hoping symptoms disappear.
“Illnesses don’t go away on their own,” Hoban said. “They need medication and treatment. Without it, people can become extremely sick—and then they end up in the emergency room, where treatment options become invasive, or simply out of reach.”
The Cancer Gap: What Gavers Makes Possible
The most pivotal impact of Gavers Community Cancer Foundation is simple and profound: it helps the clinic catch cancer sooner—when treatment is more effective, less invasive, and far more likely to save a life. In other words, thanks to Gavers, the clinic can back up the “Get checked” message with real and tangible assistance.
“Gavers has been a wonderful partner with us,” Hoban said. “Our local community raising money for a local organization—it’s so powerful. Their support has allowed us to expand screenings and treatments.”
Take colon cancer screening. “We would not be able to screen for colon cancer without Gavers,” Hoban said. “Those tests are expensive. The Gavers dollars allow us to provide that screening. And if a patient has a positive result and needs a colonoscopy, Gavers helps pay for that as well.” In fact, in the past 25 years, Gavers has supported the clinic’s efforts with more than $600,000!
The support couldn’t be more timely. Rates of colorectal cancer have been rising nationally, including among younger adults. For patients without coverage, the cost barrier alone can be fatal.
It’s the same with skin cancer, another diagnosis where early action matters. “We can do primary care screenings,” Hoban said, “but if someone needs a biopsy sent to a pathologist, Gavers allows us to pay for those pathologies. That means we can find the cancer and provide treatment early.”
Hoban doesn’t mince words about what that funding changes.
“It’s not an overstatement to say it can be the difference between life and death,” she said. “If these cancers are caught early enough, they can be treated—and that person can have a perfectly healthy rest of their life. If it’s left too long… the outcome can be very different.”
More Than Tests: A Guide Through the System
Cancer isn’t just a diagnosis. It’s a maze—appointments, referrals, specialists, side effects, transportation, paperwork, fear. For patients with resources, it’s overwhelming. For patients already living with instability, it can prove impossible.
“If you’re well insured, middle class, and well educated, cancer treatment can still mean navigating three different physicians, multiple treatments, and side effects,” Hoban said. “For our patient population—those with lower education levels, language barriers, and a lack of understanding about how the system works—it’s even harder.”
That’s why the Gavers impact isn’t just financial.
“Gavers dollars help pay the nurses who walk patients through treatment,” Hoban said. “Our patient navigators help people take the next step when cancer care can feel out of reach.”
The Pressure Is Rising—and the Need Is Growing
Even with strong partnerships, the clinic is stretched. “We’re turning away about five people every day,” Hoban said. “We simply don’t have the capacity yet to serve everyone who needs us.”
A shifting insurance landscape is also pushing more working families into crisis. “The cost of insurance skyrocketing,” Hoban said. “We’re hearing from people whose insurance is going from $300 a month to $1,100 a month. That’s not sustainable. We’re getting calls from people who never thought they would need our services.”
What Would Happen Without Gavers?
Hoban is candid about the alternative. “Without Gavers, we would have to tell patients, You need this test. We recommend you get checked, but we can’t schedule it, can’t pay for it, can’t walk you through treatment.”
Thankfully, because of Gavers, the opposite is true, and the trajectory for hundreds of people’s lives have changed as a result.
Here’s the reality. Cancer doesn’t wait for someone to get better insurance. It doesn’t wait for a family’s finances to stabilize. And it doesn’t care how hard someone works.
Gavers Community Cancer Foundation steps into that gap, and Family Health Partnership Clinic turns that support into screenings, biopsies, colonoscopies, navigation, and care that meets people in their moment of greatest need.
Thanks to Gavers, local dollars are changing local outcomes—right now.
And for the next person who walks through the clinic doors, frightened by a symptom they’ve ignored too long, that partnership means hearing words that change everything:
We found it early. Let’s get you the help you need.