She died from a disease that, today, is often curable.

That's the sentence Anseth Page Richards consistently returns to when she describes her mother's death from complications of Hepatitis C. The diagnosis was accurate but the treatment and care led to an irreversible outcome. The different doctors who did not adopt a holistic approach, and in fact did not even speak with each others, the prescription of oxycodone for neck pain to a woman whose liver was already failing are some the examples that led to her demise. Richards says; "We ultimately lost her," she says. It's a plain sentence for a complicated grief, and it reshaped how she thinks about women's health entirely.

Richards came to the conclusion wasn’t that women need better health treatment. It was that they need something earlier, to education, co-ordinate information and ultimately strengthen confidence to advocate for themselves. Research from McKinsey shows women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health compared to men. The same report predicts closing the gender health gap would add $1 trillion annually to the global economy by 2024 and approximately seven additional healthy days per woman per year.

A system constantly failing women’s health outcomes.

Health data for women has suffered generations of underinvestment, and while the dial is slowly turning, women and girls globally still face significant barriers to healthcare access gender-disaggregated data for health conditions, understanding the impact of medicines and symptoms even for common medical conditions. Women are diagnosed an average of four years later than men across over 700 conditions including diabetes and cancer. Emerging data does show women are more likely to suffer from certain conditions such as autoimmune disorders and conditions associated with inadequate access to quality reproductive care.

Richards used her approaching fiftieth birthday to decide how she could change the narrative. While most non-profits are built to answer the problem after something has gone wrong, she was asking a different question; what if a foundation existed to help women invest in their health before the emergency, not just recover from it? This was the question Richards has focused on through establishing the National CHEERS Foundation . The foundation focuses on Care, Health, Education, Empowerment, Resources, Support, adopting a proactive approach to specific health-related areas for women. The organisation is lean in its operations; volunteer-led, no paid staff and pro bono fund-raising events. Richards created a model that is intentionally small by design, but not restricted in its ambitions.

Fifteen years later the CHEERS Foundation has provided approximately 50 grants in these main areas of women’s health, including research, community clinics, mental health programs, maternal and infant care, health education and medical equipment. The grants have provided health access for women in hard-to-reach communities, demonstrated by the long-standing relationship with the Family Health Centers of San Diego. Three different grants over a six year period starting in 2014 supported medical equipment for two women’s exam rooms at the Diamond Neighborhoods Family Health Center in southeast San Diego. Two years later the Foundations funded two Doppler heart-rate monitors and a barrier-free exam table to improve access to care for women in East County at El Cajon Family Health Clinic. In 2020, funding was provided for Cervical Cancer Screening, through acquiring a colposcope to provide onsite secondary cervical cancer screening for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women. These interventions focused on access as the barrier to diagnosis, women in this areas struggled to attend medical appointments due to time needed for travel and the implications of taking time off from work, costs of travel as well as the reluctance to see unfamiliar providers. Bringing these resources into the community has allowed women to receive follow-up care within their trusted medical home. Richards is clear on the benefits of these investments; “A single piece of equipment can serve hundreds of women over time.”.

The Foundation also provides funding for research, a $5,000 grant to the Salk Institution supported the work of Dr. Amy Rommel on glioblastoma research, part of the Salk Women & Science Program. Through this funding Dr. Rommel’s work examined how tumor cells adapt and transform, including how stem-like cancer cells can become vascular cells through transdifferentiation. She explored whether understanding this adaptability could lead to new treatment approaches—potentially reprogramming tumor cells rather than only destroying them.

Predicting not reacting to health crises.

This is exactly the kind of innovative thinking CHEERS aims to support: not prescribing answers, but enabling new questions.

The breadth and depth of the work of the Foundation over the fifteen years is impressive. The fifty beneficiaries have received anywhere from $2,500 to $20,000 to support their work. Each year a few projects are selected and as demonstrated with the Family Health Centers of San Diego, the grants have a strong focus on building resources for women in communities. The annual gala, the chief source of income for the foundation allows Richards to put her previous experience in events management into practice as she produces this event pro bono. Richards is clear on the on her North Star; “Our goal has never been scale, it has been impact. Each grant, whether for research, equipment, or community support, asks the same question: How do we help a woman live a healthier, stronger, more empowered life?.”

In 2023, the Foundation moved into a different level of maturity, launching a wellness marketplace and café, based on nourishment for mind, body and spirit. The physical location provides a nexus for the community to share education and information on healthy living and awareness, reinforcing the proactive stance that is central to the values of CHEERS.

The last fifteen years have grown beyond the expectations Richards initially had but she is clear on how the legacy of her mother lives through the CHEERS Foundation; “As we approach our fifteenth anniversary, I often think of my mother, I cannot change what happened to her, but I could choose what to build from it.What began as a single annual event has become something far greater than I imagined. Her experience taught me that information, resources, and empowerment can change the course of a woman’s life. When one woman is helped, the impact extends beyond her, to her family and community.”