Women’s health is the focus of an event Thursday evening in Morehead called Health Hope Healing. St. Claire HealthCare, Doves of Gateway and UK HealthCare Women’s Health are partnering to provide health screenings and information about breast cancer.
Dr. Amy Tefft, a surgeon at St. Claire, said recent advancements in breast cancer screenings will soon be the standard at hospitals everywhere.
“One of the big things is 3D mammography that technically is not standard of care, but right now people when they get mammograms, they’re getting typically just a regular run-of-the-mill mammogram which has been around for years and they get a two-view picture of the breast,” said Dr. Tefft. “The 3D mammograms take a little bit longer to do, not a significant amount of time, but it gives you a better overall 3D image of the breast and it can pick up cancers earlier.”
Dr. Tefft said 3D mammography will be the go-to option for most hospitals in the next five to ten years. St. Claire is currently in the process of acquiring one of the expensive machines.
Dr. Tefft is set to speak at the Health Hope Healing event, which is from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the CHER Building in Morehead, across from the St. Claire Medical Pavilion. In addition to sharing advancements in technology, Dr. Tefft will explain the importance of early detection.
“Breast cancer surgery hasn’t changed significantly in the last 20, 30 years. But there have been, you know, new developments in different types of chemotherapies and we are able to do more minimally invasive surgery if the cancer is caught sooner,” said Tefft.
Officials said people should start getting breast cancer screenings like mammograms at the age of 40. Dr. Tefft said they should be performed earlier if a person has a higher probability of getting breast cancer.
At the event Thursday, people will have access to health screenings like blood pressure, glucose, bone density, cholesterol, and more.
On Saturday, St. Claire HealthCare is offering free mammograms from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Near the emergency department entrance, where radiology is, where people can get mammograms. They can either do them then or they can sign up and get one done later. So, that’ll be an opportunity to actually get a screening done,” said Dr. Tefft.
Officials said people can bring their health insurance information, but people will be screened regardless of whether they are insured.
