Free breast cancer screenings bring healthcare access to people, regardless of insurance status
A mother and daughter traveled from their home on Chicago’s South Side to Humboldt Park earlier today — not to ride the swan boats in the lagoon or to go bird watching along the trails, but so that the mother could get a mammogram.
“It’s been a long time, five years since she had one,” says her daughter. “She’s uninsured.”
The pair are exactly who Rush University Medical Center, the Chicago Park District, and technology provider Siemens hope to reach over the next two weeks, with free breast cancer screenings at the park. The mobile clinic will be stationed in the parking lot of the Humboldt Park Boat House every weekday through Sept. 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mammograms are free for women age 40 and over.
“It’s extremely important to this community that we have that type of breast cancer prevention and care,” 26th Ward Ald. Jessie Fuentes said at a news conference kicking off the program on Aug. 26.
About 40 million screening mammograms take place in the United States every year. The U.S. Preventative Services Taskforce, which sets screening guidelines, recommends that women ages 40 to 74 have a breast cancer screening every other year. Only about 62% of women ages 40 to 49 have had a mammogram in the past two years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And 80% of women age 50 to 74 have had a mammogram within that same time period.
Those numbers could be better, and early detection saves lives. Last year, more than 200 women underwent mammograms at the mobile clinic — the program’s first year. The screenings caught cancer in four women, who received follow-up treatment.
“People want to get screened. It’s that they don’t have the access,” says Summer Dewdney, MD, gynecologist-oncologist at Rush.
Susan Lopez, MD, an internal medicine physician and hospitalist at Rush, saw a patient in the hospital on Monday who had a large mass in her breast that had been there for years. It ended up being stage 4 cancer. “Unfortunately, the cancer is everywhere,” Lopez says. “She came in because she was having a lot of back pain, and it was metastases to the spine.”
The woman didn’t have access to insurance and also feared seeking medical care because she was undocumented. “The hard part about it is it’s not the first time that I’ve had a patient like that. It’s been several,” Lopez says.
At the news conference, Fuentes pointed to political impacts on people’s health. “In the political moment in which families are losing healthcare every single day, deductibles are going up, the cost is going up, women are less likely to seek out that preventive care, receive those screening mammograms, because they are fearful of what it will cost,” Fuentes said.
Colleen Lammel-Harmon is the Chicago Park District’s first health and wellness officer. “By bringing these resources to all — insured and uninsured — we are breaking down financial barriers and creating opportunities to access preventive care and help,” she said at the press conference. “Coming to where we play and live to get these preventive screenings is what we need to grow in the city as partners. Get your health screenings. Come to the parks.”
As the mother and daughter filled out their registration forms, the daughter shared how they found out about the program: from social media posts from the Chicago Department of Public Health and a journalist she follows.
“Gracias por ayudarnos,” the mother said with a shy smile.
“She says she’s grateful,” her daughter added.
Registration is required for a screening mammogram. Call (312) 942-2027 to schedule an appointment.
An award-winning journalist, Katie has written for Chicago Health since 2016 and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief.
