The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #55225

Nancy Lew, BS, MPA¹, Charla W. Ekstrand, MS, MPA², Diane Claire Carr, RN, BSN, NP³, Elizabeth Johnson, MD¹, Fred B. Strauss, MD⁴, Carmencita Diaz, BSN⁵, Patricia Green, BSN⁵, and Hope Timberlake, MPH⁶. (1) Ocean Park Health Center, San Francisco Public Health Department, 1351 24th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122, 415-682-1942, nancy_lew@chnsf.org, (2) Community Health Network, San Francisco Public Health Department, 3507 Laguna Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306-2652, (3) Breast and Cervical Cancer Services, San Francisco Department of Public Health, 30 Van Ness Suite 2300, San Francisco, CA 94131, (4) Castro Mission Health Center, San Francisco Public Health Department, 3850 17th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114, (5) San Francisco Public Health Department, Silver Avenue family Health Center, 1525 Silver Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94134, (6) UCSF Breast Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, Campus Box 1714, San Francisco, CA 94118

Thirteen public health primary care clinics, a public health breast cancer detection task force, a public hospital radiology department and a university-based breast care center collaborated to increase mammogram access for low income, underserved women receiving primary health care from a large urban public health department. Prior to this intervention, waiting time for mammogram appointments at the public hospital had reached five months and a missed appointment rate of more than 50% existed for mammogram appointments. In the meantime, a university-based breast care center received funding for and acquired a large mobile van capable of providing state-of-the-art digital mammography, mammogram reading by dedicated mammographers and performing up to thirty-five mammograms daily. A breast cancer detection task force composed of public health department staff took leadership in bringing the public health and university-based mammography services together to collaborate in making mammograms accessible to more than seven thousand low income women receiving primary care at health department clinics. Waiting time for mammogram appointments was reduced to as little as two weeks and the rate of missed mammogram appointments dropped significantly. This presentation will discuss the process used to implement this model, including steps taken to facilitate public health/university collaboration, and will provide informatation on how interested agencies can replicate this model.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to:
• Describe a van-based model for improving mammogram access to underserved, low income women;
• List two or more steps for implementation of a community collaboration involving provision of mammograms to public health patients by a separate community organization; and
• Discuss one or more tools which could be used to evaluate a system developed to increase mammogram access to underserved women.

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Mammography Screening

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: San Francisco Department of Public Health Community Health Network and Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employed by San Francisco Deparment of Public Health