In the absence of having an FCS agent, my co-workers and I have been working to bridge the gap with programs. We chose to implement and promote the Ovarian Cancer Screening this past January. According to the American Cancer Society, "Only about 20% of ovarian cancers are found at an early stage. When ovarian cancer is found early, about 94% of patients live longer than 5 years after diagnosis". With this startling statistic we knew this program would bring awareness to the community and potentially save a life. 

We scheduled 10 appointments for Wolfe County Women who were Homemaker's members to take advantage of this program. We offered transportation to the appointment. All 10 appointments were scheduled in an hour and half time frame so that participants wouldn't have to wait. 

While it is not our desire that anyone would ever discover that they have cancer, we understand the importance of screening to find the cancer early. When found early the prognosis is much better, as stated from the American Cancer Society. Unfortunately, one of the ladies that we took to be screened was diagnosed with early stage ovarian cancer. She had no symptoms and would have not otherwise found the cancer this early without proper detection. She shared what the doctor told her with us. "Do to early detection they will be able to take care of my cancer. They have a plan in place and I will be OK. They said if I had not have had it done when I did, I would have been in big trouble". 

We plan to continue this program in the future with the hopes of educating more women about the importance of early detection screenings.