Bonnie’s Bus, a digital mammography center on wheels, will visit the Eastern Panhandle in November, offering digital mammograms and breast care education to area women.
West Virginia University Hospitals-East, the WVUH-East Regional Cancer Program and North Jefferson Elementary are sponsoring the Jefferson County visit. Bonnie’s Bus will be parked at North Jefferson Elementary School on Saturday, November 10 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.
A service of WVU Healthcare and the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center in Morgantown, Bonnie’s Bus is a state-of-the-art digital mammography unit that brings the most advanced digital mammography to communities in West Virginia.
The mammograms are billed to private insurance, Medicaid or Medicare if available. Women who do not have insurance will be covered by the West Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program (WVBCCSP) or through special grant funds.
“No woman over 40 is ever turned away because of a lack of funds,” stated Jessica Graham, cancer committee member and coordinator of the Bonnie’s Bus visit.
A physician’s order is required in order to schedule a mammogram and space is limited, according to Graham. Bonnie’s Bus appointments may be made by calling Graham at 304.264.1232.
Since the startup of Bonnie’s Bus in 2009, the mobile mammography bus has traveled more than 40,000 miles and screened nearly 2,700 women. More than half of those women were uninsured or underinsured.
Bonnie’s Bus works in collaboration with a statewide partnership of clinicians, public health professionals, women’s groups and other community leaders working to help reduce the number of deaths in West Virginia from breast cancer. The program was funded through a generous gift from Jo and Ben Statler in memory of Jo’s mother, Bonnie Wells Wilson, a breast cancer victim.
For more information on Bonnie’s Bus, visit www.wvucancer.org/bonnie.
