Mobile clinic offers free breast & cervical cancer screenings

Every year, on average over 320,000 women are diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer, which is the second highest cause of death for women in the United States.

That’s why Stuber Health Center and Heart to Heart International have teamed up to give St. Joseph women a fighting chance with a free mobile clinic.

The doctor’s office on wheels will pull into a different St. Joseph location on the fourth Friday of every month to offer free cervical and breast cancer screenings.

“Cervical cancer and breast cancer is still a big killer among women,” Danyelle Kerns, Stuber Health Center’s family nurse practitioner, said. “If we can get those screened and caught early, we can treat it and save lives.”

The mobile clinic offers free services including cervical pap smears, clinical breast exams and, hopefully in the near future, mobile mammograms for women over 40-years-old.

The hope of the mobile clinic is to make screenings more accessible for women who may struggle to afford healthcare, can’t take time off work to schedule an appointment or have no means of travel.

"It's not a secret. Healthcare is really expensive nowadays and a lot of people cannot afford to get it," Stuber Health Medical Assistant Rosemary Gonzales said. "It's just really important for me and the clinic, everybody involved, that we're able to provide services to people that are offered in a regular hospital...We're pretty much just bringing the clinic to those patients that are unable to go over there. And it's just our goal to provide as much services as we can to the people that need it the most.”

Stuber Health Center employees will provide the exams in disaster response vehicles provided by Heart to Heart International.

“It’s nice to be able to utilize these in something that’s not necessarily a disaster but also, you know, giving a commitment to get healthcare out into underserved communities,” Heart to Heart Community Engagement Specialist Andrea Wilson said.

Women can schedule an appointment ahead by calling 816-344-5233. The mobile clinic will also accept walk-ins.

For those who missed out on Friday's screenings, the mobile clinic will announce its next date and location soon. For more information and resources, visit Stuber Health's website at socialwelfareboard.org.