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Health Right Offering Breast Cancer Screening

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, a local health clinic is working with a national women’s organization to combat high mortality rates from the disease in Marshall County.

According to Wendy Tronka, grant writer for Wheeling Health Right, Marion and Marshall counties are first and second, respectively, in breast cancer-related deaths in the state. With the help of a $25,000 grant from Susan G. Komen West Virginia, Health Right is combating the problem by creating the Marshall County Breast Cancer Nurse Navigation Program.

The program, designed to assist patients in getting breast cancer screenings and treatments, will help women in all areas of Marshall County, where the health department discontinued breast and cervical cancer screenings due to a lack of funding and changes in state requirements.

“We’re hoping that Marshall County residents understand that if breast cancer is detected early, it can be treated, and the survival rate is high if there is a diagnosis early and they follow through with treatment,” Tronka said. “It’s important that they understand the mortality of breast cancer is real and having support to follow through with treatment is going to help them stay alive.”

Nurses at the county health department, along with Reynolds Memorial Hospital staff at the cancer resource center, will now refer patients to Cindy Wade, a newly hired nurse navigator who will serve as a Marshall County breast cancer liaison.

Wade said she will assist Marshall County patients with financial inquiries, transportation, education and more. Although new to Wheeling Health Right, Wade has been a registered nurse for 14 years, working at Reynolds, local hospice services and as a health supervisor at Good Shepherd Nursing Home before accepting the nurse navigator position last month.

“My position will entail getting women signed up for early detection and trying to reach out to the uninsured and underinsured, who often shy away because they think they can’t afford it,” Wade said.

Marshall County Health Department Administrator Dara Pond said the nurse navigator program will accompany help the department receives from Weirton Medical Center for screening and mammograms.

Wheeling Health Right serves Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler and Brooke counties in West Virginia and Belmont County in Ohio. Marshall County patients are the second-largest population served at the clinic, following Ohio County.

Marshall County residents who want to learn more about the nurse navigation program and breast cancer screenings and treatment can call Wheeling Health Right at 304-233-9323 or the Marshall County Health Department at 304-845-7840.

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