Breast screening funds cut

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Janet Fitzsimmons sits in the neatly decorated office of her Gynecologist. Alone, she waits for Dr. Morris to come in with her test results. It was two days ago that she felt a lump in her left breast. Suddenly, thoughts of her daughter and husband flood her mind. What if it is breast cancer? What if it has metastasized? What will her daughter say? How will she tell her husband? The questions don’t stop.

Suddenly the door opens. Dr. Morris sits down. It is cancer.

“No one can prepare you for that moment,” Fitzsimmons said. “As women it is something we think about but you never think you will be the one.” However, Fitzsimmons is one of the thousands of lucky women who caught the cancer in the first stage where surgery should get rid of the lump. By catching the cancer early, Fitzsimmons has extended her life and was cancer free after the surgery.

Many women in Kansas are not that lucky. Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Early Detection Works Program gives annual breast and cervical cancer screenings to uninsured and underinsured women between the ages of 50 and 64. But as of March, because of funding cuts, the program can no longer afford to screen more patients.

“It’s hard to turn down patients who we have seen for years,” said Heidi Waldschmidt, Early Detection Works coordinator at Heartland Medical Clinic. “We know how these funding cuts could end up impacting their lives.”

In years past the Heartland Medical Clinic has screened about 300 patients a year. This year they have screened only 140 patients and cannot screen anymore until the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Nurse Practitioner at the Heartland Clinic, Kathy Fageman, said she has seen dramatic drops in funding for the past five years but she never expected them to get this bad.

The Kansas Legislature pays for the 90 Early Detection Works Programs in the state. All programs are experiencing severe cuts and admission for patients is becoming extremely competitive.

“It is sad when you have to turn down a patient just because they do not have severe physical symptoms,” said Laura Delcore, Early Detection Works volunteer. “It eliminates the option of catching the cancer early while it is still easily curable.”

Breast and cervical cancer are the two leading causes of death in American Women according to the American Cancer Society. However, if the cancer is caught in stage one the probability of death is decreased by more than 70%, making early detection crucial to saving lives.

“I know how early detection can save lives and I’m passionate about helping the underinsured,” Waldschmidt said. “That is why I do this.” Waldschmidt and Delcore are in the process of drafting a letter to the Kansas Legislature urging the Legislature to approve more funding.

Since the program began in 1995 it has screened more than 26,000 women and diagnosed 305 women with breast cancer and 644 women with cervical cancer. Without this program, Fageman said many women would not have known about their cancer until it was too late.

According to the Kansas Health Department, 30,000 women in Kansas are without health insurance. Because of the cuts in funding to the Early Detection Works Program these 30,000 women might have a greater possibility of dying of breast or cervical cancer.

There is a large population of women who are without health insurance and rely on the Early Detection Works program for their annual screenings. These women may not be as lucky as Janet Fitzsimmons was.

Today Fitzsimmons has been cancer free for more than four years. She attributes her current health to the fact that she caught the cancer in its first stages.

“If I have one recommendation it is that women get screened early,” Fitzsimmons said. “It’s a matter of life or death.” Fitzsimmons is enjoying life cancer free. With her husbands recent retirement she can travel, see the world and hang out with her family. She has a new found appreciation for early detection and more importantly, an appreciation for life.