The Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency are launching a fundraiser to raise money for a new Breast Screening Bus, as the current one has broken down and can no longer be maintained.
“The bus has broken down for a few weeks. Parts are difficult to get. Supply chain issues make it even harder,” Deb Bulych, interim president and CEO of Saskatchewan Cancer Agency explained.
For twenty years, the vehicle has been providing mammogram screenings for residents in rural and remote communities of the province who may not have the means to travel down to Regina or Saskatoon.
According to the organizations, about 8,000 mammograms are conducted from the vehicle each year.
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They hope to raise $2 million within the next two years.
“The time is now. We need to do this for our mothers, our sisters, our daughters and for ourselves,” Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan’s CEO Nora Yeates said in a press conference Monday morning.
“This bus ensures that women in this province have equal access to screening,” she added. “That means hope for early detection, and happy outcomes for all of us,” Bulych told Global News.
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Kelly Rea is a cervical cancer survivor. Although she never experienced breast cancer, she says she relies on this service given her heath history.
“The mobile screening bus makes it a lot easier for me because I live so far away – in the middle of nowhere basically – to get the screening program done,” she explained.
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Rea is pleading to residents to think about donating.
“Breast cancer does not discriminate. It doesn’t care if you’re male or female. Old or young. (No matter your) race or social status, we all need to care about this program because someday it might be someone that you love,” she said.
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