MedZou Clinic Receives Susan G. Komen Grant to Offer Educational Outreach
MU student and faculty clinicians launch breast cancer prevention campaign
Thanks to $15,000 in Susan G. Komen grant funding, MedZou, an MU student-coordinated outreach clinic, is providing preventive care and education through its new women’s breast care outreach program, Breast Care Unifying Peers. The clinic will host its first educational program intended to educate community members about breast cancer risks and preventive care at 10 a.m. Sept. 12 at the Central Missouri Community Action agency, 400 Wilkes Blvd.
The September program is the first in a series of four made possible by the one-year grant awarded through the mid-Missouri affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. During each 90-minute program, participants will rotate through stations on breast health and breast cancer risk factors, such as screening, diet, exercise and alcohol consumption. At the end of the session, participants will receive a thank-you packet for their participation. In addition, the grant enables the clinic to offer mammograms for MedZou patients who do not qualify for the state’s Show Me Healthy Women Program, which provides free mammograms for those meeting age and income eligibility requirements.
“In 2008, nearly 4,000 Missouri women were diagnosed with breast cancer and about 900 women died of the disease,” said Jane McElroy, PhD, assistant professor of family and community medicine and the outreach program’s director. “Education in our community is imperative so that together, we can prevent new cases and deaths.”
MedZou is uniquely positioned to link many uninsured community members with the resources that they need through this program, said Chris Gu, a second-year medical student and one of the clinic’s student directors.
“We’re trying to reach Columbia residents who are uninsured and may not have access to regular physician visits and educational information on breast cancer risks and preventive care,” Gu said. “After almost a year of seeing patients, people are becoming aware of MedZou as a resource, but this grant really enables us to use targeted efforts to reach out to those in need of information or care.”
Part of MedZou’s mission is to unite students across the disciplines in service to uninsured Columbia residents. Medical students, as well as those studying health management and informatics, social work, public health and nursing, all volunteer their time under the supervision of MU physicians each Thursday night from 5 to 9 p.m.
“This grant hopefully allows us to prevent new cases of breast cancer through education and save lives through early diagnosis, and it also provides the opportunity for students to learn about managing a public health campaign and treating patients,” McElroy said. “This really benefits all of us.”
