Despite COVID, area hospitals offer variety of programs
By Erin Cleavenger
Newsroom@DominionPost.com
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual international campaign to promote awareness about the impact of breast cancer and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention and cure.
Despite having to navigate the continuing COVID pandemic, local medical centers are still doing everything they can to build awareness and help those diagnosed with breast cancer throughout the entire year.
The WVU Cancer Institute held an online version of its annual Pink Party in September, raising more than $80,000 to benefit Bonnie’s Bus.
“Bonnie’s Bus is a mobile mammography unit that travels the entire state of West Virginia and offers 3D screening mammograms,” said Jenny Ostien, director of Mobile Screening at WVU Cancer Institute. “We travel the entire state and have physically been in 54 of West Virginia’s 55 counties and have screened patients from every county and all of the surrounding states.”
Since 2009, Bonnie’s Bus has provided more than 24,000 screening mammograms, detected more than 120 cases of breast cancer, traveled more than 180,000 miles, completed more than 1,200 screening days, and has funded at least 1,700 mammograms through grant funding and donations.
“It also provides mammograms for women who may be under- or uninsured,” Ostein said.
Events like the Pink Party help Bonnie’s Bus “raise money to pay for mammograms for those who don’t have coverage or who don’t have adequate coverage to pay for the cost of a screening mammogram.” The bus serves not only women, but people of any gender.
The Zelda Stein Weiss Cancer Center, which is part of the Mon Health Medical Center, also has several programs available for women diagnosed with the disease.
“During the month of October we are giving away a little kit that has a manicure kit, some hand sanitizer, a shower card for your shower to remind you to do your mammograms monthly, and a little make-up case that it all goes in,” said Tricia Julian, the oncology nurse navigator at Mon Health Cancer Center. “Anyone who comes in for a mammogram in the month of October will receive one of those.”
Mon Health also has several other free services available to anyone going through breast cancer treatment.
“We’ve got a wig bank that is stocked with free wigs, hats and scarves that are available to any patient no matter where they are getting treatment,” Julian said. There’s also an extensive bra bank. “We have within that bra bank hundreds of mastectomy bras in various sizes, along with the prosthetics to go with them and again those are free to any patient no matter where they are getting treatment.”
Julian also hosts a program partnered with Living Beyond Breast Cancer to have informational help sessions geared toward women between 30 and 40 who are dealing with breast cancer diagnoses.
“They deal with things like long-term side effects from chemotherapy and early menopause, which frequently happens with women who are undergoing breast cancer treatment in ages 30 to 40,” she said. “We will have one session dealing with sexual issues that can transpire with a breast cancer diagnosis.”
The sessions are free and those interested in attending can get in touch with Julian by calling her office at 304-285-2622.
For information on Bonnie’s Bus and when it will be in your area visit wvucancer.org/bonnie or follow the Facebook page by searching for the WVU Cancer Institute Mobile page.
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