The Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center has received $10,000 from the Breast Cancer Relief Foundation to support the work of Bonnie’s Bus, WVU’s mobile mammography unit that offers digital mammograms and breast care education to women throughout West Virginia. The funding will be used to underwrite the cost of mammograms provided on the Bus for women who do not have medical insurance or are underinsured.

“We are grateful to the Breast Cancer Relief Foundation for helping Bonnie’s Bus provide mammography services to more women in West Virginia,” said Susan Faulkner , Ed.D., associate director for Research Development and administrator of Bonnie’s Bus. “Thanks to the Foundation we have an additional funding mechanism to better ensure that every woman regardless of insurance or financial status has access to mammograms.”

Mammograms on the Bus are not free, but billing to insurers is provided. Women who lack insurance are usually matched to government or nonprofit charities. The single largest percentage of women who’ve gotten a mammogram on the Bus were either uninsured or underinsured and qualified for funding through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program. The award from the Breast Cancer Relief Foundation will help fund mammograms for women who need help to pay for their mammograms, but who may not meet the BCCSP federal guidelines to qualify for funding.

The Foundation funding will also support breast health education programs on the Bus.

“Bonnie’s Bus is more than a vehicle that provides mammograms,” Faulkner said. “It’s also a place where we strive to encourage and empower women to play an active role in their health. We want them to know what steps they can take to detect breast cancer early. For example, we provide literature to teach them how to do breast self-exams and about the early warning signs of breast cancer.”

The Breast Cancer Relief Foundation is a program of the Cancer Center for Detection and Prevention, a non-profit organization headquartered in New Orleans that is committed to helping women obtain mammograms and other diagnostic procedures to ensure early detection of breast cancer. It also funds projects dedicated to educating women on breast cancer and its early detection.

For information on the Breast Cancer Relief Foundation see www.breastcancerrelief.org/preventionEarlyDetection.asp.

For information on Bonnie’s Bus see www.hsc.wvu.edu/mbrcc/bonnie/.

-WVU-

CONTACT: Amy Johns, HSC News Service
304-293-7087; johnsa@wvuh.com