October 15, 2008
MBCHP and Montana Food Bank Network Team Up
The Montana Breast and Cervical Health Program (MBCHP) has teamed up with the Montana Food Bank Network to get the message out this month about free mammograms for eligible women.
MBCHP information cards will be handed out at Montana Food Bank Network food pantries statewide, encouraging eligible women to enroll in the program to get screened.
“Our goal for this campaign is to enroll at least 100 women statewide into the program this month,” said Diane Arave, MBCHP health education specialist for the Department of Public Health and Human Services. “The current economic situation has made the cost of some health care screening even more of a barrier to uninsured women. The information we are providing can help eligible women access free screening.”
Urban Indian Centers and reservation-based commodities programs are also participating. “Having access to the Montana Breast and Cervical Health Program offers American Indian women the opportunity to be screened for cancer,” says Charlotte Kelley, MBCHP American Indian screening coordinator. “We tell all the women we serve that this screening could save their lives.”
Montana Food Bank Network (MFBN) is a private nonprofit organization that solicits, gleans, sorts, repackages, warehouses and transports donated food and distributes it to charitable programs that directly serve needy families, children and seniors.
MFBN delivers food to remote communities and on American Indian reservations that often rely on this service to provide 100 percent of the food they distribute. In addition to providing food, MFBN offers partnering agencies ongoing support, services and education by providing them with a variety of tools to help strengthen their programs.
“Many of the families served by our 200 emergency food pantries around the state do not have health insurance and would otherwise not have access to critical preventive health care without MBCHP,” says MFBN’s public policy director Kate Bradford. “We are very concerned about the overall health of the clients we serve. Just as quality nutritious food is critical for good health, so is access to preventive health care.”
Kalispell resident Vickie Good, age 53, recently enrolled in the MBCHP with help from the Flathead City-County Health Department. Good went to the clinic for a Pap test, but her physician suggested she have a mammogram.
“I’m thankful because the mammogram revealed I did have breast cancer, but it was found early,” Good said. “After I learned of my diagnosis, I enrolled in the Montana Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program which gave me financial assistance to receive surgery and follow-up care. I’ve now been cancer free for one year.”
Breast and cervical cancers can be treated more easily when detected early, that is why mammograms and Pap tests are so important, Arave said.
Both MBCHP and MFBN provide services in all 56 Montana counties.
MBCHP services include mammograms for eligible women ages 40 to 64 and Pap tests for eligible women ages 30 to 64. Since the program’s inception in 1996, recently updated figures show 14,894 women have been screened. In addition, 27,685 mammograms and 19,894 Pap tests have been provided.
For more information call toll free 1-888-803-9343 or contact Arave at 406-444-0927.
