The gift of screening for the holidays
Community Outreach and Engagement team brings mobile mammography to outreach event
Preventive cancer testing is as important as a holiday meal.
To assist people who are uninsured, underinsured or uncomfortable with mammography appointments this season, the University of Arizona Cancer Center Community Outreach and Engagement team offered mammograms at a recent daylong holiday event with the Zion City Care Center, Inc., a non-profit organization in Tucson.
The event was the outreach team’s first foray into bringing a mobile mammography unit to events for communities through Assured Imaging. They collaborated with Pima County Well Woman HealthCheck Program, which is part of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Pima County program helps low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women access breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services.
Namoonga Mantina assisting a participant receive a mammogram at the Zion City holiday event.
For Namoonga Mantina, the outreach manager who organized the mobile mammogram program, collaboration with other community organizations is the key to reaching community members with cancer prevention tools, education and connection to health services that lead to a healthier community.
“For us, it’s knowing our resources and knowing who's out there already doing the work to assist our communities, such that when we do encounter a situation, we know who we need to bring in, or where we need to send people to serve our community,” Mantina said.
Partnering with Pima County
The Well Woman HealthCheck Program is part of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The program helps low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women access breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services.
“I think for COE, this is a way for the community to get to know us where we can actually help,” said Liliana Mendivil, a Spanish-speaking community educator who assisted at the event. “For example, most of them don't speak English, so being bilingual is important to really connect to the community that we serve.”
Griselda García, a community member who had a mammogram at the Zion City event, received her last mammogram five years ago. She thought having the mobile unit at a community event was helpful.
“It’s a great opportunity for people like me, who don’t have time to go to clinics or don’t have the resources to pay for a mammogram,” Garcia said.
Garcia also invited a friend who also had a mammogram later that day.
“It was very easy and very quick,” Garcia said. “Maybe a little uncomfortable, but everything went well.”
Stacey Monge, case manager for the Well Woman HealthCheck Program, said it is easier in some instances for patients to sign up for well woman program at a community event because it's closer to their homes, and they are unaware sometimes that the program exists.
“If they were to sign up for our program, we send them to a location on La Cholla and Orange Grove, and sometimes people have a hard time getting transportation,” Monge said.
“Since the mobile is here, we'll able to sign them up to our program, and they can just get a mammogram while they're picking up their turkey [offered through Zion City Care Center] or they're out for the day.”
Mantina said the event is requires significant coordination, and they are still looking for assistance in funding women who would like to have a mammogram but who are uninsured and do not qualify for the Well Woman HealthCheck Program.
According to Denise Hatlevig, Zion City Care Center, Inc., coordinator and spouse of Scott Hatlevig, Santa Cruz Campus pastor of Zion City, the event’s medical offerings would not be possible without the assistance of local medical professionals and community partners such as the cancer center’s engagement team and the Well Woman HealthCheck Program.
“We have doctors, registered nurses and medical assistants, and all these individuals volunteer their time. Even though they work in their profession, they still come to our big events,” Denise Hatlevig said. “They think of the faces in their town, so we are able to give that gift to people who are underinsured or have no insurance.”
At the event, more than 1,000 full Thanksgiving meals reaching as many as 6,000 individuals. Learn more about the Well Woman HealthCheck Program and Zion City Care Center, Inc.