Free Mammograms for Uninsured Women in Ventura County, Calif.

Centers for Family Health in Santa Paula will host a free mammography screening on July 18, 2009. Free mammograms are offered to women in the area who are currently uninsured. These same women are also eligible for free cervical cancer screenings, or pap tests, through the Centers for Family Health. To sign up for the free mammogram or ask about eligibility for a free pap test, contact the receptionist at (805) 525-9595.

Mammograms, or screening mammographies, should be done every year starting at age 40.

In Ventura County, CA, free mammograms are offered 4 times during the year, in different areas of the county. They are done by appointment only through the Community Memorial Health System's Centers for Family Health. Women are seen in groups of 10 on a Saturday morning when the Center for Family Health and CMH's The Breast Center are normally closed.

Regular staff members volunteer to work on these days and give their time with a smile. The women meet at the clinic where they are given a clinical breast exam by a doctor. Their blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature are checked. A drop of blood is taken to check for diabetes and anemia. The results and advice are available right away. The clinic offers coffee, juice, and fresh bakery rolls, since some of the women are asked to fast before having their blood test.

When all the women have been checked, transportation is provided to The Breast Center in Ventura, located at Community Memorial Hospital. Smiling volunteers meet the women at street level and take them to a cheerful waiting room where there is somewhat of a party atmosphere. Another table of juice and bakery rolls is set up for this special group. There is a drawing for two raffle prizes with pink ribbon logos, such as a manicure set. A bag of women's health care literature and small gifts is distributed to look at while waiting. Staff members are happy to answer any questions. Before leaving, each woman is given a fleece blanket roll with The Breast Center logo. The staff is friendly and encourages everyone to return for a mammogram in one year. The transportation is waiting to take the women back to the Center where they started. The process, start to finish, takes about two hours.

If you, or someone you know, doesn't have health insurance to cover the cost of a mammogram, be sure to contact the Santa Paula Center for Family Health to be included in the July 18 mammogram screenings. The fourth and final mammogram screenings for 2009 will be on October 17 at the Ashwood Center for Family Health in Ventura. The staff is bi-lingual.

The screenings are part of a California Department of Health program called "Every Woman Counts". It's a cancer detection program to give breast and cervical cancer screenings to women with no insurance. It's funded by a federal grant and tax revenues from tobacco.