Even in the most remote areas, you don’t expect to hear “never” when you ask a woman in her 40s or 50s when she had her last breast cancer screening. But that is precisely the response Darryl Adams, an nurse practitioner in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program, received from a patient who had come to her clinic after injuring herself.
As Darryl conducted her exam, she learned this patient had never had a mammogram or a breast exam and didn’t know how to do a self exam. When Darryl found a large mass and a change in the skin, she knew these symptoms weren’t new and probably were very advanced. She referred her patient to a specialist who did a biopsy. It was metastatic breast cancer, and it was too late.
Darryl moved to Tennessee with her husband and son in 2005 to be closer to her siblings. In 2006, she started working for the State Health Department in Altamont, Tennessee. She had always lived in rural areas, but never worked in one until she started in Altamont.
“I never considered rural work, but after taking this job I fell in love with it,” says Darryl. “Funny the roads life takes you down - mine always seem to be bumpy and unpaved!”
In select rural areas like hers, the State Health Department runs primary care clinics that provide care for uninsured adults. One of the services offered by her clinic is a program that provides free screening for breast and cervical cancers.
“I was so upset,” says Darryl. “Here was this local woman who lived so close to the clinic, and a little bit of information about what was available could have saved her life. And so I decided I was going to gather as many ladies as I could to prevent this from happening again.”
Darryl presented an idea at her staff meeting about putting up some flyers and inviting women in the community to come learn about how they can get mammograms for free. She was hoping that her coworkers would agree to let her use the clinic after hours, but they agreed to much more.
“The ladies I worked with pounced on the idea! They suggested we make it bigger – hold it at the community center, offer food, and give away door prizes. My coworkers all donated their time and provided the refreshments. We had a breast cancer survivor come in to speak. I did a slide show explaining how to do a self exam, and we had breast models there so women could practice. We called it ‘Mountain Tops and Bottoms: A Women’s Health Event,’ and in the months that followed, we had a lot of new people coming in to sign up for the program and get screened.”
This event is now a yearly occurrence, and Darryl is looking to grow it. She will finish her service commitment next month – but she isn’t going anywhere.
“Altamont is a wonderful little place, but the people are so poor and have so little. I just love that they put this clinic up here in the middle of nowhere. It’s right where it belongs, and so am I.”
