Many communities across the vast expanse of Kansas and western Missouri don’t have easy access to cancer screenings.
Even in bigger towns and cities that do have a cancer center, some people aren’t getting screened because of a lack of awareness or some other geographical obstacle.
That’s why the University of Kansas Cancer Center has retrofitted a bus to function as a mobile cancer-screening clinic across the 92,000 square miles they serve in Kansas and Missouri.
Gene Juno, who lives in Garden City, Kansas, was diagnosed by KU staff.
“I’m so grateful for KU,” he said.
But Juno is convinced the new 42-foot-long bus commissioned by the cancer center would have helped catch his illness even earlier, and he’s confident it will do the same for other people in his community.
“I'm grateful they’ve got the outreach, and overjoyed they've got that bus and can put it on the road to help people,” he said.
The bus, dubbed “HOPE on Wheels” — or Health, Outreach, Prevention and Education — is equipped with an exam space, screening and dressing area, bathroom, a phlebotomy station and a medical refrigerator. It can travel anywhere within the coverage area, and the team plans to prioritize rural communities.
KU is partnering with the Kansas Masons and the Cinelli Family Foundation on the bus, covering a cost of more than a million dollars. The University of Kansas Health System will provide trained oncologists for mammography services.
KU Cancer Center Director Roy Jensen said they will offer free screening events at each stop, including for skin, prostate and breast cancer. They'll also offer take-home colorectal cancer screening kits.
“It helps ensure that no matter where someone lives, they have the chance to catch cancer early,” Jensen said.
For patients who are insured, service providers will bill for mammograms, and KU has funds to cover the cost for people without insurance coverage.
Part of the effort is also informative. Jensen said they’ll give out educational materials on the importance of screening and tobacco cessation as part of the service.
Jack Beal, vice president of Cancer Services, said they’ll work with local clinicians to coordinate care and identify what the specific needs are in each community.
“This unit allows us something that is sort of very nimble and flexible, and that really is designed, literally, to promote accessibility,” he said.
More details about what communities the bus will visit and how to obtain a screening can be found on the Masonic Cancer Alliance website.
