The people of Capital Breast Care Center (CBCC) at 650 Pennsylvania Ave. SE are quietly helping over 2,000 women screen for breast cancer. Unfortunately, more District moms, sisters, grandmas, aunts, wives and friends die of breast cancer than anywhere else in this country. CBCC is working to change that, and you can help.

CBCC is There
Maybe you’ve heard of CBCC’s advisory council president, Michelle Fenty. “We have the highest breast cancer mortality rate in the entire country,” she said in a video posted to YouTube (type in “capital breast care center” to view it). “It is absolutely imperative that women in DC understand and appreciate that Capital Breast Care Center exists.”

Beth Beck began in September 2008 as executive director, and is putting CBCC front and center as there are so many women who need their services but, as Fenty alluded to, do not know CBCC is there to help. “We serve women who are without insurance or are underinsured,” she said. “CBCC opened in 2004, and we’re the only stand-alone community mammography facility in DC. … And it’s important to me that the community knows we are here, doing something about the horrendous breast cancer mortality rate in the District.”

Serving the Underserved
The staff understands that their clients may be late because the bus was late, or they couldn’t find childcare. “There is a whole range of issues concerned with working with the underserved population,” Beck explained, “and they may have had a bad experience with another provider. CBCC providers are not like that.”

CBCC offers mammograms, including a new type called MammoPad®. It’s soft and not as uncomfortable as regular mammograms. CBCC’s focus is on breast health, but there is also a whole-health and prevention focus with cervical cancer screenings, identifying risk factors for cancer, blood pressure checks and education on eating right and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

CBCC is a satellite office of the Lombardi Cancer Center in Georgetown, but to better serve their target population, they are centrally located. “This facility stands up against barriers … such as transportation – we’re accessible, kids can come,” said Beck. “We have lots of great toys – they can play while their mom is being screened.”

The language barrier is met as well. Imagine being diagnosed and treated by doctors and nurses in a language not your own, guided into a biopsy, not fully understanding why, not understanding aftercare instructions. CBCC maintains bilingual staff is, so non-English-speaking women are participants in their own health care.

CBCC has what they call “patient navigators,” people who are there to guide patients from screening, to diagnosis, to treatment. “We basically hold hands through the process – it can be scary,” said Tesha, a patient navigator. When there is the potential for bad news, people may not answer the phone, won’t call back, and don’t come back in for diagnosis, so occasionally, the patient navigators make house calls. “We’re there, making sure they understand they need to follow up,” Tesha said. “One patient was so upset over the phone, I said, ‘We can’t let her drive here.’” So they went to her.

Beck is working on starting a mobile program, a van to bring women in for their appointments. This would serve to cut down on no-shows, but more importantly, it would get women in for their screenings.

How You Can Help
Early detection of breast cancer saves lives, period. You can’t detect if you don’t go. Every woman should have a mammogram by age 40, or earlier if breast cancer is known to be in the family. Tell your friends, hairdresser, housecleaner and the lady next to you on the bus about CBCC.

To financially assist CBCC, please send checks made out to Capital Breast Care Center to 650 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Suite 230, WDC 20003. You can sponsor a patient – each patient incurs a cost of $380. Or make a tax-deductible contribution to help CBCC purchase a digital mammography machine – its price is $300,000 – and put the analog film version to use elsewhere.

The Avon Foundation has provided generous support for the operations of CBCC since 2004. The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer takes place May 2 to 3, and CBCC has opportunities for volunteers and walkers. For information please contact Susannah Fox, CBCC development director, 202-787-5714. www.capitalbreastcare.org.

This is part of a monthly series profiling nonprofits that serve our community. To suggest an organization to be profiled, please e-mail Heather Schoell at hschoell@verizon.net with “suggestion” in the subject line.