Quest Diagnostics Provides Free Cancer Screenings to Underserved Women in Texas

Minority women have a greater incidence of both cervical and breast cancer than the general population.

In our quest to remove barriers to healthcare access among the country’s most vulnerable populations, a volunteer team of Quest pathologists and clinicians traveled to Irving, Texas in December to provide free, potentially life-saving diagnoses to at-risk uninsured and/or underinsured women.

In partnership with the IVFMD Clinic in Arlington, Texas, through the College of American Pathologists’ (CAP) See, Test, and Treat® cancer screening program, Quest provided hundreds of women aged 21 to 64, primarily of Vietnamese descent, with an array of screenings and same-day results, including pelvic exams, HPV screenings, and Pap tests to screen for cervical cancer. Doctors and volunteers from the IVFMD Clinic also provided clinical breast exams and mammograms to screen for breast cancer. Vietnamese-American women have the highest cervical cancer rates of any ethnicity, according to the National Cancer Institute. “

Women face a number of barriers to care. It is a privilege to work with our community to overcome barriers to the most basic of preventive care. It’s our job to serve others,” said Robert Breckenridge, MD, Southwest Regional Medical Director, Quest Diagnostics.

To learn more, download our 2015 Global Inclusion and Corporate Social Responsibility report.