Group donates $100,000 for continued breast cancer screening

[The Straight Story]

Group donates $100,000 for continued breast cancer screening

Jennifer Henry was appalled last week when state health officials announced significant cuts to breast cancer screening services for low-income women.

By the time the shock had worn off, she had decided to do something about it.

Henry, the executive director of Links for Life, a charitable organization that for 17 years has helped fill gaps in breast cancer services for Kern County women, said the new cuts in mammography screening through the state's "Every Woman Counts" program are just plain dangerous.

The Every Woman Counts Cancer Detection Program has been "a lifesaver for a large segment of California women," Henry said.

For years it has paid the cost of mammogram screening for uninsured women not covered by Medi-Cal. But beginning New Year's Day, the program will "temporarily cease new breast cancer screening enrollments" and stop covering mammograms for women ages 40 to 49.

"The thought that they would be denied a mammogram or another screening process was almost unbearable to us," Henry said.

As a result, the Links for Life board voted this week to dedicate an additional $100,000 toward mammograms, ultrasounds or needle biopsies for Kern County women who are under or uninsured.

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x113237476/Group-donates-100-000-for-continued-breast-cancer-screening