Marshall Medical Outreach, a medical student-led organization that provides free medical care to the homeless and unemployed population in the area, recently teamed with Cabell Huntington Hospital (CHH), the CHH Breast Health Center and the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center to provide an afternoon of health and wellness events for more than two dozen women.
Twenty-five women, identified through local social service agencies, were invited to the inaugural “Mamm & Glam” event where free mammograms were provided through a grant awarded from Susan G. Komen for the Cure West Virginia. The mammograms were read on site by a Cabell Huntington Hospital radiologist.
Wellness consults, hair and nail services, lunch, yoga instruction, and goodie bags including health, hygiene, and makeup items were also offered.
In addition to the major sponsors listed above, the following businesses participated: True Blue Salon; Studio 8; Cabell Huntington Health Department; Qdoba Mexican Grill; Honeybaked Ham; River & Rail Bakery; plus dozens of individuals and private groups.
Missy Browning, education coordinator for the department of psychiatry at the School of Medicine and MMO events coordinator, said the focused event on women’s health was a huge success.
“We were so pleased to be able to collaborate with our partners and offer free mammograms to these at-risk women,” she said. “Having the results read while the ladies were on site was also important, because it can be difficult to follow up with this population in the event further screening is needed, since many of them do not have permanent housing or telephones. Therefore, we planned an event for the ladies to participate in – hair styling, manicures, a makeup bar, yoga instruction, and lunch – ensuring they could enjoy an afternoon of royal treatment while the radiologist read the scans.”
Browning thanked the community for its response to the event which included donations by religious groups, work-site groups and individuals. She said social media played a huge role in spreading the news about donations for the event.
“I was amazed at the community’s response to this event. While we have a dedicated group of individuals who assist on MMO projects, the Mamm & Glam event resulted in volunteers and organizations that hadn’t previously served with our team,” she said. “After posting the event on Facebook, we had an outpouring of support.”
“Our team was amazed at the outpouring from the community to help sponsor this event,” said Marsha Dillow, RN MSN CBCN, Director, Breast Health Center and Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Diagnostic Breast Center. “Missy Browning and her team did a tremendous job with the planning of the event. She is very compassionate about reaching out to others and it showed through the great success of this event. The success of partnering with Marshall Medical Outreach was demonstrated during the Mamm & Glam and we look forward to working with them in future events.”
Marshall Medical Outreach provides monthly care one Saturday a month beginning at 9 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Huntington. Future dates are as follows:
- September 20th
- October 25th
- November 22nd
- December 27th
For more information or to volunteer, please contact Missy Browning at clagg11@marshall.edu.
