Mobile cancer screening bus wraps up first summer on the road

Since hitting the road this spring, a new mobile screening bus, an effort by the Masonic Cancer Alliance, the outreach network of The University of Kansas Cancer Center, has been bringing free cancer screenings to rural and underserved communities that need it most. Mobile screening vehicles bring care directly to people where they live and work, eliminating the need for long drives and making it easier for people to access services.

Known as HOPE on Wheels: Health Outreach, Prevention and Education, the 42-foot bus helps ensure that people have access to screenings that may detect cancer early, regardless of their geography. “We are so excited to be able to extend mammograms and other cancer screenings to communities with limited access to those resources,” said Brooke Groneman, assistant director for outreach at the Masonic Cancer Alliance.

The bus is outfitted with a mammography room, a phlebotomy station, exam space, a medical refrigerator, a screening and dressing area and a bathroom. The bus furthers the ability of the Masonic Cancer Alliance to host free screening events throughout KU Cancer Center’s catchment area, which includes Kansas and 18 counties in western Missouri, and to provide educational materials as well.

So far, HOPE on Wheels has traveled roughly 7,000 miles and provided screenings for 826 people at 17 events in towns all across Kansas and in western Missouri. Doctors from KU Medical Center are on the bus to offer free skin cancer screenings and prostate cancer screenings. Free take-home colorectal cancer screening kits and genetic counseling education are also available. Mammograms are available in many communities. For those with insurance, mammograms are billed to their insurance. The Masonic Cancer Alliance covers the cost of mammograms for those without insurance.

David Eckert, a Mason and trustee emeritus of the Kansas Masonic Foundation, was at the screening event in Elkhart, which is in the southwestern corner of the state and has a population of fewer than 2,000 people. Even though the screening was scheduled on Sunday morning, they had a turnout of around 100 people, he said.

“All the community people I’ve talked with said this was really an amazing opportunity,” Eckert said. “And being from the community, I see how we're individually touched almost on a daily basis with friends, family and coworkers who themselves are touched by cancer. And if this saves one person’s life by preventing it or catching it early, I think it’s worth it.”

Funding for the bus and its operation comes from the Kansas Masonic Foundation and the Cinelli Family Foundation. More information, including a cancer screenings schedule for the bus, can be found at the Masonic Cancer Alliance website.