University of Tennessee Medical Center, Cancer Institute

The Breast Health Outreach Program (BHOP) at the University ofTennessee Medical Center’s Cancer Institute is a unique grant-funded program providing essential breast health services and education for women in 20 rural and remote counties of East Tennessee. Breast health classes focus on the importance of early detection, screening guidelines, warning signs of breast cancer and proper technique for breast self-exams (BSE), and are offered on-site at locations throughout the community. With the help of funding from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, UT Medical Center’s state-of-the-art mobile mammography unit provides digital screening mammograms for uninsured/underinsured women throughout East Tennessee.

“The National Mammography Program is making a difference in the lives of Appalachian women in East Tennessee. Thanks to the convenience of our 3D mobile mammography unit and the funds available through this program, breast cancers are being diagnosed in uninsured women that would have otherwise gone undetected.” — John L. Bell, M.D., Director, UT Cancer Institute