Though for some people the month of October is defined by fall leaves, pumpkin patches and shoveling our mouths with fistfuls of candy, October also marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The global educational awareness effort seeks to amplify the stories of breast cancer survivors and provide resources to maintain breast health.
So it was fitting that when a reader called the Public Investigator team last week asking for help finding free or low-cost breast cancer resources in the Milwaukee area, we responded.
According to estimates from the American Cancer Society, 5,460 women in Wisconsin will get breast cancer and approximately 720 women will die from the disease in 2023. In Wisconsin and nationwide, Black women tend to have lower incidence rates but higher death rates when it comes to breast cancer.
Explore some of Milwaukee’s breast cancer resources and upcoming events below, including some geared specifically toward women of color:
Nurses Affecting Change offers free breast cancer exams year-round
In 2011, Bonnie Anderson, a nurse at Milwaukee Catholic Home, helped create Nurses Affecting Change. The group travels around the greater Milwaukee area providing free breast exams to women.
The driving cause of their work, Anderson said, is that the breast cancer death rate for Black women is 40 percent higher than their white counterparts.
Community members can ask Nurses Affecting Change to host pop-up breast examination clinics.
At the pop-ups, examinees will be brought into a room with a nurse practitioner and nurse clinician who will talk them through the process of an examination and explain how to conduct self-exams at home.
If any health concerns are identified during the examination, Nurses Affecting Change will stay in communication with patients to discuss resources for treatment.
To schedule a pop-up exam, interested parties can contact (414) 745-4684.
Wisconsin Well Woman Program
The Wisconsin Well Woman Program provides clinical breast exams, diagnostic testing, mammograms and other health resources to women without health insurance. By expanding access to health screenings, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services program seeks to remove barriers to identifying breast and cervical cancer.
There are several clinics available throughout the state, including one at the Southside Health Center on South 23rd Street, where local residents can access clinical breast exams, mammograms and pap smears.
According to the Well Woman Program website, individuals between the ages of 40 and 64 are eligible for the program, but there are exceptions if you are:
- 65 years or older and not eligible for Medicare or if you can’t afford Medicare Part B
- 35-39 years old, and receiving Medicaid Family Planning Only services, and you are referred to the program after an abnormal breast exam or abnormal mammogram
- 35-39 years old, and not eligible for Medicaid Family Planning Only services and you self-report breast symptoms to the coordinating agency; or
- 35-39 years old, without breast symptoms and not eligible for Medicaid Family Planning Only services. You may be eligible for cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services.
Well Woman is offered in all 72 Wisconsin counties and 11 tribes. Nonbinary and transgender individuals are welcome to participate in the program. If interested, Wisconsin residents can call 800-642-7837 to learn more.
Local nonprofit offers mentoring and support groups
Founded in 1999 by Milwaukee television journalist Melodie Wilson Oldenburg, After Breast Cancer Diagnosis provides resources to women in Wisconsin and nationwide who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The organization pairs 200 professionally-trained mentors with breast cancer patients for one-on-one conversations about their diagnosis, treatment plan and mental and physical health.
All pairings are “customized” to ensure that participants can speak to a mentor with similar interests, diagnoses and life circumstances.
“There are other organizations where you can just call a helpline and you get connected to a cancer survivor, but that person may be 30 years older than you are or 30 years younger, or could be someone who was stage zero but you’re stage three,” said Ellen Friebert Schupper, the executive director of After Breast Cancer Diagnosis. “We are connecting them to someone who really understands what they are going through.”
One of the program’s mentors, Keeshia Jones, who also serves as director of healthcare and community partnerships at the nonprofit, recently shared her breast cancer awareness story as a part of an international celebration of Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
Under the glimmering teal, pink and green lights of the Hoan Bridge, Jones joined speakers at over 200 landmarks across all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico to “light up” the bridge for metastatic breast cancer awareness.
Jones began her work with After Breast Cancer Diagnosis after she was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in 2018, with seven tumors growing in her left breast. In 2023, she was re-diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer and has since sought to share her knowledge and resources with women across the country.
“I was ready to give back and help other women to make sure that they are aware of their bodies, that they’re getting those mammograms, that they’re just advocating for themselves,” she said.
Panel to highlight disparities in breast cancer
Although most Breast Cancer Awareness Month festivities will conclude by the end of October, Divine Wellness and Counseling will host representatives from the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for a conversation about breast cancer disparities and resiliency on Saturday, Oct. 28.
The event, hosted at Greater New Birth Church in Milwaukee, marks the conclusion of a month-long series of breast cancer awareness events and fundraising efforts across the city.
However, Milwaukee breast cancer advocacy organizations are using the event to remind local residents that their work doesn’t stop when the month ends.
“Oftentimes the resources that are needed to provide education and support are not available in the community where people live, work, fellowship and interact on a regular basis,” said Dr. Sandra Millon Underwood, professor emerita in the College of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
For more than a decade, Underwood and advocates across the city of Milwaukee have sought to expand breast cancer testing resources to underserved, at-risk populations.
“We can’t do everything that needs to be done in October, because women are being diagnosed every day. And we don’t want them to missed or dismissed,” Underwood said.
She hopes that events like the Divine Wellness and Counseling panel will alert people to the broad network of organizations working to increase access to breast cancer education, free exams and support.
