Hospitals pass muster on mammogram access for disabled women

Kathie Bach, who was born with cerebral palsy, flashed a smile and a thumbs up after checking out the mammography machine in the Reger Family Center for Breast Health at Billings Clinic.

Any woman with a disability would be easily accommodated here, said Bach, 65, of Glendive. Its wonderful. Everything is what I call mobility accessible.

Bach, who relies on a wheelchair, serves as a disability adviser for the Montana Cancer Control Coalition.

Bach joined facility evaluators from the University of New Mexico School of Medicines Center on Development and Disability on Tuesday to conduct an on-site visit. They also visited Yellowstone Breast Center at St. Vincent Healthcare.

The visits were designed to increase staff awareness about mammography accessibility for women with disabilities and to offer technical assistance to improve facility accessibility.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In 2010, the most recent year data is available, 206,966 women in the United States were diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,996 women died from breast cancer.

Women with disabilities are at an increased risk of dying from breast cancer because they are significantly less likely to receive a clinical breast exam and mammogram screening.

In the United States in 2008, women with a disability aged 50-74 reported a lower rate of mammography use than women without a disability of the same ages (78.1 percent versus 82.6 percent), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Studies also show higher rates of death related to breast cancer among women with a disability, even when diagnosed at the same stage as women without a disability, according to the CDC.

This disparity is often due to physical, environmental, cultural and attitudinal barriers, said Nancy W. Lee, executive director of Susan G. Komen Montana.

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Hospitals pass muster on mammogram access for disabled women