$2M fundraiser launched to replace Sask. mobile breast cancer screening bus
The wheels were put in motion on Monday to replace a vital piece of medical equipment for women in rural and remote areas of Saskatchewan.
A 20-year-old bus offering breast cancer screening has come to the end of the road so now there’s an urgency to replace it.
"If we did not have this mobile screening program more women with just not do it. That is a shame," cancer survivor Kelly Rea told CTV News.
Rea beat cervical cancer and visits this mobile screening bus every time it’s in her home community of Norquay to ensure the cancer hasn’t come back or spread. This provides her peace of mind and convenience.
“The mobile screening bus makes it a lot easier for me because I live so far away, in the middle of nowhere basically,” she said.
The bus stops in 40 of those remote areas each year and in a province with a lot of isolated rural areas, it is significant. It means women don’t have to travel long distances to have a mammogram which is a prohibiting factor for some.
Now, the aging bus is taking its final pit stop.
“The bus has been broken down for a few weeks. Parts are difficult to get, supply chain issues make it even harder,” Deb Bulych, Interim CEO, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency said.
As a result, the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan and Cancer Agency are hoping to raise $2 million to buy a new bus.
“We know that we need to have the new technology to provide this service to the people of Saskatchewan,” Bulych said.
A quarter of a million mammograms have been delivered on the bus since the beginning and without it, less screening could be the reality.
“Without the bus, women in remote areas would have to come into the two centres to get their mammograms or other tertiary centers. I hate to think about it. I don’t want to think about it,” Bulych says.
Early detection of breast cancer leads to increased survival rates, and Bulych says, having equal access for all women in the province is vital.
The goal is to have enough money raised by March to cover the cost of a new bus, and ultimately help save lives.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.