Unfortunately for women with limited or no health insurance who are approaching mid-life and not yet eligible for Medicare, gaining access to pap smears, mammograms and other recommended screenings can be challenging.

Community Action Partnership’s “Forty Wonderful” program helps to fill the gap for these women in their mid-life years. It is the only sliding scale/free preventive health screening program in San Luis Obispo County for low-income, medically underserved, uninsured, or underinsured women as they approach menopause through the post-menopausal period, up through age 64.

Forty Wonderful offers clinical breast exams, including referrals to French Hospital’s Diagnostic Center for a baseline exam, annual screening and diagnostic mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, and various types of blood tests. Also provided is education on specific health concerns such as breast health, cervical cancer, menopause, hormone replacement therapy, cardiovascular risk and arteriosclerosis.

The Forty Wonderful staff members are ecstatic to have recently received a $5,500 Grant Award from Dignity Health. This award came as the result of a strong proposal prepared by Bryn Smith, program planning and development specialist of Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County.

Dignity Health, formerly Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), headquartered in San Francisco, CA, is a system of 40 hospitals and medical centers in California, Arizona and Nevada. Founded in 1986, Dignity Health is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit hospital systems, providing affordable health care services to the poor and underserved. Throughout the past year, Dignity Health has provided over $1 billion in charity care and unsponsored community benefit nationally.

The grant to Forty Wonderful has been earmarked for case management and marketing purposes. This will allow case-managers to provide oversight for cancer patients and enable follow-through from screening at French Hospital to treatment at the Hearst Cancer Resource Center. A portion of the grant will be allocated to ads regarding the importance of annual screenings and the availability of free or low cost services. These will be disseminated in English and Spanish in both publications and radio ads.

In 2011, working with a $32,000 annual budget, Forty Wonderful provided services to more than 400 women. For information or to schedule an appointment call (805) 544-2478 in San Luis Obispo or (805) 489-4026 in Arroyo Grande.