Free Clinic prepares for new program
Lynchburg News and Advance
Thursday, February 12, 2004When patients were given a certificate for a free mammogram by the Free Clinic of Central Virginia last year, about half the women who needed the cancer-detecting screening test wouldn’t go get it. So this year the Free Clinic is bringing mammography - and education about breast cancer - to the clinic.
The clinic is launching a new Breast Cancer Awareness Program, with a kick-off event scheduled for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the clinic, 1016 Main St. Women of all ages will get a chance to enjoy some catered food, gifts of cosmetics, and raffles every 15 minutes for beauty treatments and haircuts.
“It should be fun - a chance to see the Free Clinic … for those who aren’t patients to see what it looks like, and (for patients) a chance to see something happening at your place,” said Bob Barlow, executive director.
t’s also a time to sign up for Free Clinic services for established patients and to start the process for newcomers who may be eligible for services. (The clinic targets its health services to the uninsured.) About 51 percent of the Free Clinic’s current patients are women.
The Valentine’s Day event opens the gate to a new push to educate and screen more women for breast cancer.
During the next year, with the help of a $50,000 grant from the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the Free Clinic will host the Centra Health Mobile Mammography Unit at the clinic and take the educational effort to about a dozen sites outside of its downtown Lynchburg home base.
Plans call for the Mobile Mammography Unit to be parked at the clinic one day every two months. All that Free Clinic patients have to do is keep their appointments. Walk-ins will be accepted, as well.
A screening mammography is a low-level X-ray of the breast, which can detect small cancers in women who have no symptoms. Last year, three cases of breast cancer were detected among the Free Clinic patients who had the mammograms. But only about 50 percent of the 114 vouchers for a free mammography were used.
When the Clinic sought to find out why, Barlow said explanations ranged from “inconvenient,” to “uncomfortable” to the fear of ending up being responsible for a payment.
This year, the Free Clinic goal is to double the number referred for a mammogram and increase the number who get the test to at least 75 percent.
Barlow said the decision to emphasize breast cancer awareness came because the results were so poor for mammography compared with efforts to get women to agree to other kinds of screening.
“It really stood out,” said Barlow.
Ingrid Dunnaville is a volunteer with Centra Health’s Witness Project in which women treated for breast cancer take the message of breast cancer awareness to the community.
In many of its efforts, the Free Clinic is partnering with Centra Health to provide breast cancer education. Centra also has a program to help cover the costs of treatment for eligible Free Clinic patients.
Dunnaville will be among the guests Saturday who will provide educational materials and insight to women who have questions about breast cancer.
“I’m excited to be able to help someone else,” she said.
Breast health education “is critical for all women,” said Dunnaville, who was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago.
Many women over age 40 have never had a mammogram, Dunnaville said. Some are afraid, some can’t afford it, or they have other things that take priority in their lives other than their own health.
According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women, accounting for nearly one of three cancers detected in women. As a cause of cancer death in women, breast cancer is second only to lung cancer. If detected early, before any spread, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer is 97 percent.
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