Free or Low-Cost Health Screenings for Women Offered March 30 in Monroe County

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – Free or low-cost breast exams, pap tests and mammograms are available to Monroe County women 40 and older who qualify through The Witness Project, a community-based cancer education program of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) College of Public Health and Arkansas Cancer Research Center.


 


Women in Monroe County who wish to receive the health screenings must call (800) 275-1183 to find out the requirements and to schedule an appointment. Those who qualify will be referred to their primary care physician for the breast exam and pap test. Qualifying women who do not have a primary care physician will be provided a physician through the program.


 


The mobile mammography unit will be in Clarendon on Wednesday, March 30, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at City Hall, 270 Madison St. Health care professionals from St. Bernards Regional Hospital in Jonesboro will perform the mammograms.


 


The Witness Project promotes cancer awareness among African-American women and medically underserved women. African-American women who are breast or cervical cancer survivors serve as role models and “witness” at churches and civic groups about their triumphs over cancer. Through this program, more women – particularly in the rural parts of Arkansas – are becoming better informed about early detection in the fight against breast and cervical cancer.


 


For more information about the program, or to learn how you can become a volunteer, write to the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, 4301 West Markham, # 629-A, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205; or call (800) 275-1183.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has more than 2,200 students and 660 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $4.1 billion a year.


 


UAMS centers of excellence are the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy and Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute.