ThriveWell: Deriving Inspiration & Vitality through Activity

Since inception, MHM has provided nearly $500 million in healthcare services through our clinics and programs, as well as through our partnerships. MHM is proud to partner with organizations that share our mission and organizational objective of delivering healthcare and social services to the least served in the South Texas region. By strengthening other organizations' capacity to provide services, we
achieve our overarching goal of increasing access to care.

Under the umbrella of Health Education & Nutrition, the ThriveWell Cancer Foundation became an MHM funded partner in 2011 when MHM funded ThriveWell’s Deriving Inspiration & Vitality through Activity (DIVA) program. ThriveWell is dedicated to finding a cure for cancer by funding cancer research, providing patient support and offering programs, like DIVA, to improve the quality of life for patients and their families. DIVA was developed in response to research that showed that breast cancer patients who follow diet and exercise guidelines can reduce their risk of reoccurrence by 30-40 percent.

DIVA provides free exercise, nutrition and artful healing classes for breast cancer patients and survivors. Research shows that women who exercise 1-3 hours per week, following recommended hormonal or chemotherapy, have a 25 percent lower mortality from breast cancer and those who exercise 3-8 hours per week have a reduction in breast cancer mortality of 50 percent!

Through education, DIVA teaches the survival benefits of nutrition and exercise, while also creating a sisterhood of thriving survivors. There are four DIVA class locations in Bexar County. MHM provides funding to support two service sites that are located in underserved low-income areas of San Antonio where women have a high incidence of late stage breast cancer. By providing access in these locations, health disparities among minority cancer patients are reduced. Since ThriveWell’s induction as a funded partner in 2011, MHM has provided over $80,000 in funding to support the DIVA program.

To learn more about DIVA, visit their website at http://www.thrivewell.org/DIVA.