Weems program offers free mammograms

            Free mammograms are available at Weems Memorial Hospital for women without insurance.

            As part of their breast cancer awareness and prevention program, Franklin Needs, Inc. will pay for a mammogram for any woman age 35 to 64 years of age who is a Franklin County resident and has no health insurance.

            Franklin Needs founder Elaine Kozlowsky, of Eastpoint, said there is $50,000 available to fund the program.

            To participate in the program women must obtain a mammogram order from their physician, the Carrabelle Clinic, the Eastpoint Medical Center or the county health department, and then call Weems Memorial Hospital at 653-8853, ext. 119 to set up an appointment.

            Last year, Kozlowsky spearheaded a highly successful fundraiser when she convinced 11 local beauties to pose tastefully and appropriately “in the buff” for the Forgotten Coast Classics 2009 calendar. Money from the calendar, combined with donations, sales of “Titty Tacks” jewelry designed by Kristin Anderson and proceeds from the Calendar Girls Cabaret variety show last November provided funding for the mammogram program.

            “The Calendar Girls want to thank Franklin County again for raising $50,000 and now we want to give it back,” said Kozlowsky. “Sadly, in over 46 percent of Franklin County women diagnosed with breast cancer, the disease has begun to spread.

            “The radiologists at Weems have given us an excellent price,” she said. “We can do a lot of mammograms for $50,000.”

            A mammogram is a low intensity x-ray used to help screen for or detect breast cancer. Many small tumors can be seen on a mammogram before they can be felt by a woman or her health professional.

            Cancer is most easily treated and cured when it is discovered in an early stage.

            Mammograms do not prevent breast cancer or reduce a woman's risk of developing cancer. But regular mammograms can reduce a woman's risk of dying from breast cancer by detecting a cancer when it is more easily treated.

Experts have different recommendations for how often you should have a mammogram.

            Women over 40 should have a mammogram every one or two years. A health professional may recommend testing more often when there are risk factors for breast cancer. Any woman with a personal or family history of breast cancer is recommended to have yearly mammograms.