During the month of October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Heart of Virginia Free Clinic is offering 141 free mammograms thanks to a grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
The Heart of Virginia Free Clinic is a private, independent non-profit corporation and has been offering free mammograms since February 2013 for women between the ages of 40 and 64 who do not have insurance.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure is a non-profit breast cancer organization that is formerly known as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Komen offered the Heart of Virginia Free Clinic a grant to provide 141 free mammograms through January 2014.
As of Monday, Oct. 7, the grant paid for 56 mammograms at Centra Southside Community Hospital and 22 free mammograms at Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill, Va.
There are 44 free mammograms already scheduled as of Oct. 7. The clinic has funds left to do 16 more free mammograms.
The Heart of Virginia Free Clinic was incorporated in 2011 and opened on April 4, 2012.
It is one of 62 free clinics in Virginia. The clinic is supported by eight local churches and several civic clubs, including the Farmville Lion’s Club, the Farmville Rotary Club, Cumberland Clothes Closet and the Farmville Kiwanis Club.
The clinic has a licensed on- site pharmacy and provides medicines at no charge. Longwood University students, faculty and staff from the Department of Nursing and the Department of Social Work & Communication Studies and Disorders have actively volunteered at the clinic.
According to the American Cancer Society website, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancerous death in women.
About one in eight women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. There are currently more than 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.
Jeanne Strunk works as nurse practitioner of the Student Health & Wellness Center as well as volunteer at the Heart of Virginia Free Clinic. She is a Board-certified Women’s Healthcare Nurse Practitioner since 1995, and a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner since 2007.
Strunk said, “For college age women, most will not have to have their first mammogram until they are much older. Normally, we don't routinely do them until age 50 unless you are at high risk, and risk isn't what we used to think it was. “
She added, “When I first started working in women's health, only those with a first degree relative like a mother or maternal grandmother who had Breast cancer were considered high risk. Now, that is no longer true. Everyone is at risk.”
Strunk suggested that female students perform regular breast self exams.
“Most of us will need to learn to perform breast self exams so we know what is normal for us and what is not and [what] should trigger seeking medical advice for,” she said.
To be eligible for medical care at the Heart of Virginia Free Clinic, one must be between the ages of 18 and 64, be a resident of Southside Virginia and have a household income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
The Heart of Virginia Free Clinic sees patients by appointment every Tuesday night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in their office on Main Street.
Eligibility interviews are conducted on Tuesday afternoons from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
