Focus is breast cancer awareness.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

At age 47, Chyrisse Bays of Springfield is long past due for her first mammogram.

Doctors recommend that all women get annual breast X-rays starting at age 40, or earlier if they have a family history of breast cancer. But Bays said she just hasn't gotten around to it yet.

"It's one of those things you put off and put off," Bays said Wednesday after attending a daylong breast cancer prevention clinic in Eugene, "and it's time to stop putting it off."

The clinic was hosted by Volunteers in Medicine, the west Eugene medical clinic that caters to the uninsured working poor, and Oregon Imaging Centers, which runs two imaging offices in Eugene and Springfield. A $1,900 grant from the Susan B. Komen for the Cure foundation paid for the event.

Volunteers in Medicine recruited 30 low-income women, all over age 40, half of whom are native Spanish speakers, for the clinic. The purpose, said Dr. Cathryn Chicola, OIC's director of women's imaging, was "to break down some of the barriers low-income women face when dealing with issues of routine breast care."

"Cancer is a scary disease, and the more we can educate women, the more we empower them to take control of their personal health," she said.

One barrier that got knocked down was cost: Low-income women may be eligible for free mammograms through the Oregon Breast and Cervical Cancer Program.

Bays said knowing that she can get annual mammograms covered "makes a big difference."

"When you don't have insurance, when you don't have the money, you don't get it taken care of," she said.

Chicola said breast cancer used to be a death sentence for women because it was diagnosed so late. Today, if women 40 and older conduct self-exams each month, get mammograms annually and a physical exam every three years, many cancers can be caught early and treated, she said.

If breast cancer is detected early, the five-year survival rate is 95 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.

Chicola was asked whether it was painful to get a mammogram. Bays said a friend likened it to lying on a driveway and having a car drive over her chest.

"It's not the most pleasant experience. It's not like eating ice cream," Chicola said. "But it only lasts for a few seconds."

Many women find mammograms uncomfortable and sometimes painful because their breasts are squeezed and flattened between two plates. Oregon Imaging Center has just begun using a new disposable soft pad that covers the plates to make the experience more comfortable.

The women watched as an employee at Oregon Imaging Center got a mammogram administered by Susan Llorente, the center's supervisor of mammography and diagnostic X-ray. The woman, who did not want to be identified, said, "It was not painful at all."

Llorente told the women they have "total control" when getting a mammogram.

"You have the right to tell the technologist not to go any tighter," she said.

After the tour, the women were able to make appointments to get a mammogram.

"I never had a mammogram before," 46-year-old Cheryl Connolly of Springfield said. "Guess I better start."

CANCER SCREENING

Low-income women age 40 and older who are uninsured or underinsured may be eligible for a free women's health exam through the Oregon Breast and Cervical Cancer Program.

For information, call toll-free [phone]