"I t really scared me," says Victoria Lopez, remembering the time four years ago when she thought she had cervical cancer. "I thought something was wrong, but I didn't have insurance or the money to go to a private doctor."

Fortunately for Lopez, a friend told her about a clinic run by the Community Council of South Central Texas (CCSCT). Within two weeks, Lopez was worked into the schedule and given a clean bill of health.

Lopez is one of thousands of low-income, uninsured women who have benefited from the services - including breast and cervical cancer screening and family planning services - offered at CCSCT's clinics in the last decade. In fact, CCSCT did such a good job of providing medical care over five counties that for many years they turned in a request for continued funding and were almost guaranteed a renewal.

But last year was different. The Texas Department of Health (TDH) warned that they would not consider funding history when evaluating applications. Organizations with five years of history as grant recipients would be in the same boat as those applying for the first time.

Knowing that she needed an edge in her application, Assistant Director DerryAnn Krupinsky turned to the TEES Center for Community Support.

"They helped me reevaluate what goals the state had and realign our priorities with theirs," said Krupinsky. Realignment meant creating outreach programs to target men, screening for STDs, and developing educational programs and programs targeting youth.

Taking the extra time to reevaluate the program paid off when CCSCT received $491,712 in grant awards to continue their services. For Krupinsky, the payoff is seeing the relief in the faces of their clients who screened clear for cancer or other illnesses.

"There have been a lot of women who feel like something's wrong," says Krupinsky. "Some have worried for the past year. Suddenly they hear about our program and within two weeks they know everything's okay."

Victoria Lopez can attest to that.