Phelps Health Foundation Receives $500 Grant for Breast Cancer Awareness

A woman has a one in eight chance of getting breast cancer during her lifetime. In fact, except for skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer found in women.

However, due to increased awareness as well as finding breast cancer earlier through screenings, the number of people who die from breast cancer continues to decrease.

Making more people aware of breast cancer is a goal of Sally Arft, a breast cancer survivor from Salem, MO.

After being diagnosed with stage I breast cancer in 2018, Arft received care at the Phelps Health Delbert Day Cancer Institute (DDCI) in Rolla, MO.

She said she wanted to give back to the healthcare organization that helped her through her cancer journey as well as bring awareness to others about a disease that affects hundreds of thousands of women.

“I don’t want anyone to go through what I did, and I thought every little bit helps,” Arft said.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that about 281,550 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women by the end of 2021.

Arft worked with Marsha Rana Wayman, CRFE, director of philanthropy with the Phelps Health Foundation, to request a donation to the Foundation from the Salem Walmart store.

Thanks to Arft’s assistance, the Phelps Health Foundation received a $500 grant from Walmart Giving.

This grant is intended to ensure women in the Salem and Dent County area are aware of breast cancer screening resources available to them through Phelps Health, regardless of their financial need.

The Foundation’s Breast Center Mammography Program can help patients without necessary financial resources get a mammogram. Each October, the Foundation offers 50 free mammograms to uninsured women in south-central Missouri.

Tiffany Henry, RN, Phelps Health Comprehensive Breast Center coordinator, says despite ongoing efforts to remind women about the importance of getting screened for breast cancer, many women do not get mammograms.

In 2018, about 44% of women ages 65-74 enrolled in Medicare in Missouri received an annual mammogram. That percentage is lower in Phelps County and Dent County, where only about 40% and 39%, respectively, of women in that group had a screening mammogram.

“Mammograms help us detect things early,” Henry said. “A mammogram can detect breast cancer up to two years before you would ever be able to feel something, which is ideal.”

Early detection of breast cancer allows for more treatment options and better long-term survival.

As of December 14, 2021, the Phelps Health Comprehensive Breast Center performed over 3,800 screening mammograms.

Several professional medical associations, including the ACS, recommend that women get a yearly mammogram starting at age 40, or earlier, if a person has mother, sister or daughter who had breast cancer.