'SCREEN' TEAM: Members of the WEPAC organization - who represent Wilmore, Englewood, Protection, Ashland and Coldwater - are putting together a weekend of activities to raise money for cancer screenings and detection services in their communities. Pictured here are Kim Hazen, (back row, left) Debbie Trahern, Benjamin Anderson, Debbie Filson, Brenda Fry, Beverly Clark, (front row, left) Carla Filson and Debbie York. courtesy Susan Edmonston/Protection Press

The resources to assure women receive regular cancer screenings are sparse here in this part of Southwest Kansas. But people in five small towns have joined to help solve the problem and in the process are putting one of the region's most celebrated resources to work: women's basketball.

"Some of the greatest women's basketball players in the history of the game have come out of western Kansas," said Benjamin Anderson, chief executive of Ashland Health Center, Ashland, KS. "Jackie Stiles and Shalee Lehning are two great examples. The sport is very popular here."

Stiles, a Claflin native who set Kansas and NCAA basketball records and played in the WNBA before retiring in 2006 because of injuries, will take part in two celebrity basketball games Oct. 30 in Coldwater and Ashland. She will be joined by Lehning, a recent Kansas State University graduate and current Atlanta Dream guard.

The goal is to raise $100,000 from ticket sales and sponsorships. Ten percent will be donated to a cancer fund named for late North Carolina State women's basketball coach Kay Yow. The remaining 90 percent will be invested in a fund known as "WEPAC," named for the five participating communities: Wilmore, Englewood, Protection, Ashland and Coldwater.

Better Screening a Goal

The fund will pay for cancer screenings for local women. Eventually, the group wants to also provide survivorship services for patients with cancer and link them to resources across the state and region to make sure they receive appropriate cancer care.

The communities plan to sustain the fund with other sporting events that draw people from their towns and others across the region, Anderson said.

Organizers said they hope the fundraising efforts will become a model for other small communities looking for ways to bring healthcare services to small communities.

"With the state of the economy, there are plenty of reasons to find excuses for low performance and our woes," Anderson said. "This is five rural communities totaling 2,500 people looking for solutions instead of excuses. They're taking responsibility for their own healthcare."

Rural Access a Growing Concern

General screening guidelines from groups such as the American Cancer Society and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommend the following for women:

• women ages 40 and older should get a yearly mammogram;
• women ages 18-65 should have a Pap test every 1-3 years; and
• starting at age 50, women should have a colonoscopy every 10 years.

The local hospitals in Ashland and Coldwater are able to provide some of those services by relying on mobile mammogram and sonogram units that regularly visit the area, said Nancy Zimmerman, administrator of the Comanche County Hospital in Coldwater.

But if residents need more treatment or diagnostic work, they typically must travel to Pratt or Wichita, an almost 3-hour, one-way trip, something the fund organizers hope to mitigate.

"Locally, we want to be able to provide mammograms or sonograms if they have to have them right after [a mammogram,]" Zimmerman said. "We can provide Pap smears. For colonoscopies, we will have to refer the patient somewhere else. We're hoping to utilize our two hospitals for as much of the services as we can. It's easier for the patients. If people are already having financial problems, it gets expensive to drive somewhere else."

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Mid-Kansas Affiliate has made it a priority to improve access to care for rural women, said MaryAnne Caster, a spokeswoman for the cancer foundation's regional office in Wichita.

The foundation is providing gasoline cards to help women with the costs of traveling to the regional cancer centers, Caster said. Mobile mammography machines have also helped bring diagnostic tools to underserved areas, making it much easier for local women to receiving screenings.

"I think mobile mammography units are a huge benefit, but they are very expensive," she said. "When funding can go that way, it's extremely important."

Education Included

In addition to the basketball games, the WEPAC organization will host a health fair Oct. 31 in Ashland. Booths and vendors will provide information, a communitywide lunch will be served at the high school, and a panel of Kansas experts will discuss policy and consumer and clinical perspectives on cancer.

Cynthia Cooper, an Olympic gold medal winner and former Houston Comets player, is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech about her late mother's experiences with breast cancer.

A continuing education opportunity will also be available for healthcare providers to discuss ways to improve access to care in rural communities.

The multipronged approach - partnering with universities, state agencies and nonprofit foundations and then focusing on consumers, local residents and providers - is one Anderson said he hopes will begin solving the problems his area faces.

And it's one he hopes will become a model for others in rural communities across the country.

"This has attracted attention, respect and interest because people can't understand how five rural communities can start dropping the walls between them to work together through the sharing of services," he said. "In doing so, we strengthen everyone's community."

Pink & White

The teams - Coldwater in white and Ashland in pink - will be a mix of current Coldwater and Ashland high school students, college players and a small roster of professionals from the WNBA.

Stiles and Lehning will perform with current players from K-State, the University of Kansas; Wichita State, Nebraska and Missouri. Alumni from the two high schools will fill the remaining spots.

A practice game will take place in Coldwater and the main game will be held in Ashland. Fewer than 1,000 tickets will be available for each game. Tickets went on sale Sept. 13. The game will also be projected onto a screen at the football stadium in Ashland to accommodate more fans.

The game is scheduled for broadcast on the regional Fox Sports Network and the event's organizers anticipate other national sports coverage for the weekend.

Sarah Green is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans.