Bonnie’s Bus and LUCAS to offer cancer screenings in Moorefield

Attention reporters and editors: If you are interested in covering Bonnie’s Bus and LUCAS when they visit your area, please contact Sarah Shaffer, WVU Medicine communications specialist, at sarah.shaffer3@wvumedicine.org in advance. Out of respect for patient privacy, please do not show up at the location without scheduling an appropriate time for interviews and/or photos. 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bonnie’s Bus, a mobile mammography unit offering three-dimensional (3D) digital screening mammograms and breast care education to women, and LUCAS, a first of its kind, state-of-the-art mobile lung cancer screening unit offering low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scans, will visit Hardy County. 

Services of WVU Medicine-WVU Hospitals and the WVU Cancer Institute, Bonnie’s Bus and LUCAS will be at Hardy County Health and Wellness Center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 21. For an appointment, call 304-538-7380.  

The screenings are billed to private insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare, if available. 

Mammography patients who are underinsured or uninsured and meet enrollment criteria will be assisted in enrolling in the West Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program (WVBCCSP) to cover the cost of their screening mammogram. Uninsured women living in West Virginia who are 40 and older can receive a free screening mammogram on the Bus through the generosity of grant funding and donations. A physician’s order is needed for a mammogram.

Uninsured patients living in West Virginia who meet screening criteria can receive their lung cancer screening on LUCAS through the generosity of grant funding and donations. A physician’s order and prior authorization from insurance are required to get screened. Appointments must be made 14 or more days in advance of the visit to allow time for insurance pre-authorizations.

Bonnie’s Bus has traveled more than 225,000 miles partnering with clinics from across the state to complete over 1,700 screening days. Since 2009, screenings provided by Bonnie’s Bus have detected more than 170 cases of breast cancer. Many of those screened are underinsured or uninsured and qualify for screening through the WVBCCSP. 

Bonnie’s Bus works in collaboration with a statewide partnership of clinicians, public health professionals, women’s groups, and other community leaders working to help reduce the number of deaths from breast cancer in West Virginia.

Made possible by a generous gift from West Virginia natives Jo and Ben Statler to the Cancer Institute, Bonnie’s Bus is operated in partnership with WVU Hospitals. The Bus is named after Jo Statler’s late mother, Bonnie Wells Wilson.

LUCAS, an acronym for Lung Cancer Screening, builds upon the success and infrastructure established by Bonnie’s Bus. In West Virginia, more people die of lung cancer than colorectal, prostate, and breast cancer combined. LUCAS travels to the 42 counties in the state without easy access to lung cancer screening. 

Similar to mammography, regular lung cancer screening can detect cancer early, when it is easier to treat and cure. Both units are part of the WVU Cancer Institute Mobile Cancer Screening Program and work in collaboration with a statewide partnership of clinicians, public health professionals, and other community leaders to reduce the number of deaths from breast and lung cancer in West Virginia.
  
For information on Bonnie’s Bus, see WVUCancer.org/Bonnie. For information on LUCAS, see WVUCancer.org/LUCAS.