COVID-19’s effects on breast care, mammograms

IN JUNE, THE SUSAN G. KOMEN organization restructured and this year’s Texarkana Race for the Cure was canceled because of COVID-19 concerns. For those in need of breast health services locally, these were major blows. The Race has brought in $6.9 million over the past 20 years, and more than 75% of that has stayed local to provide breast care and mammograms through medical centers around Texarkana. The rest was used to support breast cancer research.

In 2019 alone, the CHRISTUS St. Michael Foundation received $75,000 and the Wadley Foundation received $40,000.

Francine Francis, director of marketing for the Texarkana CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System, said the funding has been crucial to the breast care services they provide. It enables an average of 350 women per year to receive breast care services including screening mammograms, diagnostic mammograms and ultrasounds, breast MRI studies and breast biopsies.

“The funding has been critical to our ability to reach underserved women with life-saving services, and we will be challenged to identify other resources moving forward,” she said. “However, we will continue to strive to ensure area women can access these needed services.”

Francis laid out some resources available for women with no insurance or means to afford insurance.

“Programs such as Arkansas Breast Care, Healthy Texas Women, Texas Breast and Cervical Cancer Services and Genesis PrimeCare offer services for women meeting certain criteria,” she said.

Wadley Regional Medical Center’s Director of Marketing Shelby Brown said she fears the implications of decreasing funds.

“It is going to cause hardship for women who have no insurance or who have a $5,000 deductible that don’t have those funds,” Brown said.