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Making cancer survivors
of the uninsured
This story first appeared in the
summer/fall 2009 issue of
Ohio University Medicine. It was
updated and edited by Charlie Martinez
to be published during October 2011’s
Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
By Colleen Kiphart
Illustration by Danette
Pratt
Oct. 17, 2011
When Anne* found a lump in her breast,
she thought little of it. She had found
benign cysts in the past―and paid out of
pocket to have them removed and
examined. If this were a movie, a
foreshadowing refrain may have swelled
in the background as she did her
self-examination, fading to a tenuous
tune as she dismissed it. But there is
no soundtrack to warn us of what is to
come, no warning sign that says, “This
time is different.”
Anne was diabetic, and as she needed it
more, health insurance became harder to
afford and, ultimately, impossible to
obtain.
“She was waiting to get a mammogram
until she turned 65, which is when
Medicare would have kicked in,” said
Kathy Trace, M.H.A., director of Ohio
University Heritage College of
Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM)'s
Community Health Programs (CHP) and a
friend of Anne’s. “She died two days
before her 65th birthday.”
According to the American Medical
Association, 46 million Americans are
uninsured, which can lead to a cycle of
self-diagnosis, self-neglect and
self-denial that can be fatal.
Anne worked every day until the pain
prevented her from being mobile. A few
weeks before she succumbed to breast
cancer, she implored Trace to tell her
story. According to Trace, Anne’s
tragedy is a common one, but in
Southeastern Ohio at least, she says,
“it doesn’t have to be.”
Trace and her colleagues at OU-HCOM
offer free and reduced-cost mammograms,
ultrasounds, biopsies and other
diagnostic tests for both breast and
cervical cancer to uninsured and
underinsured women at high risk,
including women over the age of 50 and
those with previous breast abnormalities
and/or a family history of cancer.
The breast and cervical cancer
screenings are provided through CHP’s
Healthy Adult Program and funded by the
Columbus affiliate of Susan G. Komen for
the Cure, the Ohio Breast and Cervical
Cancer Project (BCCP), and the Ohio
Association of Free Clinics. Komen, one
of the program’s greatest supporters,
awarded the Healthy Adult Project Breast
Screening Program $65,715 in 2011, for a
total of $672,244 since 2001.
“When an uninsured patient is diagnosed
with cancer, the BCCP refers them to a
primary care physician in the state,”
Trace said. “And if the women are
members of the BCCP before they are
diagnosed, (the BCCP) also covers the
full cost of treatment.”
Since 1994, the OHIO program has
screened more than 50,000 women for
breast and cervical cancer, including
487 screened in 2010 at over 65
different clinics. CHP’s Healthy Adult
Project Breast Screening Program covers
a 15-county area through its mobile
health units and its
Heritage Community Clinic, which is
located in Grosvenor Hall.
Despite these promising figures, stories
like Anne’s persist, underscoring the
need to increase awareness of CHP and
other services.
Unaware of Anne’s breast lump, Trace,
who had known her for years, referred
Anne to a local physician when she
complained of back and bone pain.
Unfortunately that physician, who
diagnosed her cancer, was not affiliated
with the BCCP. With the diagnosis of
advanced breast cancer from a non-BCCP
physician, it was too late to qualify
for free treatment.
“She would have been a perfect candidate
for this service, had we known earlier,”
Trace says.
Before she died, Anne expressed her
desire to spread the word to uninsured
community members about the importance
of early detection―and about OU-HCOM’s
free services.
Trace described Anne as an open and
generous person, fondly remembered and
sorely missed by her family and wide
circle of friends. “She was always one
to help others. This is one way for that
to continue―her way of being a friend to
those she never met.”
The two biggest risk factors for
developing breast cancer―growing older
and being a woman―are unavoidable, Trace
says. But regular self-examinations,
discussions with your doctor, and yearly
mammograms―all in conjunction with a
healthy lifestyle―can reduce your risk
and give you the greatest advantage in
the fight against cancer: finding it
early.
Programs like the Healthy Adult Project
Breast Screening Program can help with
early detection. In 2010 alone, the
program assisted to diagnose three cases
of breast cancer that would have gone
undetected. Carrie Johnson, R.N., the
nurse coordinator for the
program, regularly follows
up with diagnosed patients during and
after treatment.
“Our hope is that women age 40 and older
will continue to take advantage of early
detection methods―mammography plus
clinical breast exam.” Johnson said.
“The key to mammography screening is
that it be done routinely―once is not
enough.”
This month screenings will be held:
• Oct. 18 – United Methodist Church,
Tuppers Plains
• Oct. 19 – Woodsfield Church of Christ,
Woodsfield
• Oct. 25 – Hocking Valley Community
Hospital, Logan
• Oct. 26 – Perry County Senior Center,
New Lexington
To schedule a breast exam through the
Healthy Adult Breast Screening Program,
call 1.800.844.2654.
*Names have been changed to protect
individual privacy. |
