Many of us have had friends or loved ones with breast cancer. Or perhaps we have battled it ourselves. Women’s health is an important aspect of the overall mission of Hancock Health. And, because of Women Helping Women, our women’s clinic serves many all over East Central Indiana by providing access to preventative screenings for diseases such as breast cancer.
Women Helping Women through life-saving healthcare services
The Hancock Health Women’s Clinic serves all of our community members, including those without insurance. Why is this important? Because preventative screenings, like mammograms, are key to diagnosing and treating life threatening illnesses such as cancer, whether you are financially secure and insured or not.
We spoke with Allyson Smith, Executive Director of the Hancock Health Foundation and a member of Women Helping Women, about the importance of helping women across the community gain access to necessary screenings and healthcare. Smith says that, many times, women who are supporting themselves or their families on a limited income put their own healthcare on the backburner. This is why the Women’s Clinic helped 84 women access 157 screenings just last year at no cost.
Raising funds to save lives, one screening at a time
The 25th anniversary of the Women Helping Women Gala, their biggest fundraising event of the year, will happen this year on October 20th at Embassy Suites in Noblesville. Years ago, when they first began their mission of helping women access healthcare, Women Helping Women was able to raise less than $40,000 to help those in need in our community.
With a huge team effort, groups of volunteers, passion and a community who cares, last year’s total was a whopping $134,000! That is a lot of low-cost services for women in our community to help prevent devastating diseases such as breast and cervical cancer! Smith says this goes along with the Hancock Health mission of providing quality care for the whole community, even those who can’t afford it. In fact, she says, Hancock Health writes off about $1.5M in uncompensated charity every month because they are passionate about making Hancock County and East Central Indiana a place where residents can get the best healthcare possible.
Making health possible for women
Thousands of women over the years have benefitted from Women Helping Women and the services provided by the women’s clinic. When it was founded in 1998, Women Helping Women became a pillar of breast and cervical cancer awareness, prevention, and advocacy within the community for those without insurance. Because of the funding from Women Helping Women, the women’s clinic was then able to treat those who were under- or uninsured through services such as mammograms, pap smear tests, biopsies, bone density testing and other women’s health services.
When asked the goal of this year’s annual gala, Smith says, “I’d like to have over 400 people in attendance (which would be the most we’ve ever had) and raise a significant amount of money to support the clinic in the coming years.”
Can you help to support Women Helping Women in their quest to make mammograms and other lifesaving services available for uninsured women across East Central Indiana? Find out more information about this amazing organization and register for the gala by downloading their brochure.
You can also head to the Hancock Health website to find out more about the services offered by our women’s clinic. Cheers to 25 years of service and passion within our community and thank you to everyone involved in the 25th Anniversary Women Helping Women Gala!
