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Participants walk along Race Street during the 14th Annual "Moms Walk for a Cure" event. Over 500 people registered for the walk to support breast cancer research. (FILE)

OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital plans to introduce mobile mammography program

Women in Athens and surrounding counties may soon have greater access to breast health care through a mobile OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital mammography program.

The $2 million program will be the first to offer advanced screening mammography to underserved areas in Southeastern Ohio, according to a letter sent from The Athens County Commissioners to the Governor’s Office of Appalachia.

To raise money for the program, Tara Gilts, O’Bleness director of development, requested the Athens County Commissioners write the letter to support an application seeking $250,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

“Transportation is an issue for a number of people in the county,” Lenny Eliason, an Athens County Commissioner, said in an email. “Having a mobile unit will bring the resource to them.”

Eliason said the Appalachian Regional Commission was chosen as a possible source of funding because they have resources available for those types of programs.

The mobile mammography unit will screen more than 1,500 women annually and hopes to help identify breast cancer in its earliest stage, according to the commissioners’ letter.

“The ultimate goal of this program is to save lives,” Gilts said.

In 2015, Athens’ breast cancer rates were higher than the average for Ohio. That year, the rate of breast cancer was 146.5 per 100,000 people in Athens.

Sydney Webber, spokeswoman for OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital, said a combination of private donors and organizations have pledged a total of $777,000 to support the purchase of a vehicle and mammography-related equipment to date. The hospital will need additional resources to partially cover operational costs of the program over five years.

Women in Athens, Monroe, Noble, Morgan, Perry, Hocking, Vinton, Washington and Meigs counties will be able to take advantage of the mobile mammography screenings, according to the commissioners’ letter.

“(O’Bleness’) mission is to improve the health of those we serve,” Gilts said. “It’s crucial that we meet the people in our community where they’re at.”

@mayganbeeler

mb076912@ohio.edu

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