Cancer screening program provides assistance for women

Community Action, Inc. of Central Texas has a mission to bring health care to many of the community’s underinsured, uninsured and low income residents in rural counties.

This is particularly true for providing access and funding to women for breast cancer screenings and treatment.

“We have a program that does free mammography and breast health services for low income and underinsured women in Hays County,” Breast Cancer Outreach Program Manager and Consultant David Wiley said. His organization is located at 215 S. Reimer Ave., Suite 130.

“We are part of a larger group which is called Addressing Cancer Together, ACT Coalition that’s based in the United Way office in Austin,” he said. All are focused on bringing health services to women in rural counties. Wiley said he works with Hays, Bastrop and Williamson counties.

“We partner with local providers. Specifically, our number one provider is Communicare in Kyle because they deal with uninsured, low income populations routinely,” Wiley said. There are also others who assist in bringing women to Community Action care and to use their funding resources.

“There is a form of funding called BCCS — breast and cervical cancer services — and so if we can’t qualify women for Medicaid, we can qualify them through BCCS,” he said. On March 1, the United Way gave them an 18-month grant.

“Not only that, but let’s say for example, they have an abnormal mammography and they’re going to need imaging done, then we have money for imaging. If a woman ends up being diagnosed with breast cancer and has no other resources we have funding to take them through that part of their step as well,” he said.

“My job is to get this information out to the public. So, we’re partnering with school districts, clergy, religious institutions and medical providers, you name it, if there’s a group of people, we’re talking to anyone and everyone,” he said.

SMCISD has pushed the information out to its parents, as well as Wimberley and Hays, he explained.

“We deal primarily with women 50 and older, but we also can deal with women aged 40 and older,” Wiley said. The majority of women recently who had to go back for imaging, the second step, were in that 40 to 50 age group, he explained.

“We’re catching it early,” Wiley said.

Bilingual services are important to this organization, and their materials are available in both English and Spanish. They also partner with the Hays County Food Bank to get the word out.

“Language is not a barrier for us,” Wiley said.

Also of importance to the program is comfort and accessibility, thereby reducing the fear of going in for a mammogram or discussing sexual health.

“We can work with people's insurance as well,” Wiley said. “We have a really good partnership with Austin Radiological Association in Kyle, which offers [screenings] at a reduced rate for services.”

If a woman is over the income limit, they give them up to 250% of the federal poverty limit.

“If a woman is not eligible financially, we still find a way to get them in on our rate,” he said.

Mammograms without services can cost anywhere from $300 to $700 or more. The program can usually get women in within two weeks; their only requirement, proof of income.

Wiley complimented Lydia Perez, the program coordinator, as the navigator and linchpin for making all the program work. He said that Perez and others were out walking in Green Pastures, and other neighborhoods knocking on doors to get women signed up.

Community Action even provides a $10 gift card that women may use for transportation. Identifying ways that will stop women from getting screened is part of the purpose.

“We think we’ve got it figured out,” he said, “but transportation or access to phones are still issues that interfere with getting the word out.”

He said the program strives to show women that this can be a routine for them, that they have a home with the program.

“This is about creating a medical home for them,” he said, “creating a family legacy where women see health care as a right not a privilege.”

For additional information, go to communityaction. com.