BELLE GLADE, Fla. — A radiographer for 24 years, Michelle Bush conducts mammogram tests.
She works at Lakeside Medical Center, which is owned by the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. Bush knows there's a need in Belle Glade to help individuals who need a mammogram.
"We have a lot of indigent patients. We have a lot of migrant workers. We have a lot of non-English speaking patients, and we have a lot of elderly people that don't have a family to help them," said Bush.
Kate Watt, Executive Director of Susan G. Komen Florida, says help is on the way to Belle Glade soon through a community breast health navigator.
"There's a lack of access to affordable, available health care and also we see a high number of diagnosis in late-stage breast cancer. We feel if we can get them earlier, get people screened earlier, get them access to resources that are being funded by Komen out in Belle Glade, we will be able to reduce breast cancer deaths."
Komen Florida started the program last year in Delray Beach. So far more than 1,800 women have been helped.
Marie Seide is the community breast health navigator in Delray Beach.
"I take them to places where they can get free mammograms and free treatment if they need it too. And also I stay with them like their mother," she said.
Now a community navigator will be in Belle Glade in a couple of months.
"Early detection is your only defense against breast cancer."
Komen Florida says it's the first in the nation to have a community breast health navigation program.
