HOUSTON – Cassandra Tyson is a busy woman with a talent for making jewelry. Getting a mammogram wasn’t in her plans until one day she says she saw a sign.
“Saw the bus in the parking lot right, right where I worked,” Tyson explained.
The bus was The Rose Mobile Mammography Coach. The mobile unit can drive directly up to an office, community site or church and screen for breast cancer.
“In Houston and in the rural area counties that we cover, we recently surveyed our patients and 77% of them said they would not have received their annual screening mammogram if it was not for the mobile coach,” said Jessica Duckworth, The Rose Chief Operating Officer.
Last year, Duckworth said The Rose served 40,000 women and 7,000 of them didn’t have insurance. More than 300 were diagnosed with breast cancer. Tyson was one of the patients they’ve diagnosed.
“When my doctor called me and told me I had cancer, I almost fell out, started crying on the phone,” Tyson said.
Luckily, she says a patient navigator helped guide her.
“Our patient navigators that are community health workers work with a patient to get them into treatment and stay with them throughout treatment,” Duckworth said.
Now, Tyson has completed surgery and radiation and is on her path to a full recovery. She wants more women to get screened for breast cancer.
If you want to see where The Rose Mobile Mammography Coach will be next, or to schedule the unit to come to your community, call: 281-464-5136
Patients do need to have an appointment to get screened. You don’t have to have insurance to get access to a mammogram through The Rose.