Alex Eickelshulte is a radiation tech at Ottumwa Regional and she says fewer women in Wapello County get mammograms compared to the rest of the state.

Eickelshulte said, “I would like everybody to catch breast cancer early so that way we don’t have that mortality rate that comes with breast cancer.”

Eickelshulte continued by saying the two factors the prevent people from getting checked. One is Wapello county’s increasing immigrant population that hasn’t been informed of their options. As well as Wapello County being one of the most poverty-stricken counties in the state.

She said there are options for those that want a mammogram and are uninsured. Ottumwa Regional Health Center works with River Hills to provide that service to these women.

To inspire getting checked, Garrett remembers a little girl asking her why she cut all her hair off.

Garrett told me what she said to her mother. “This is what cancer looks like, Breast Cancer. I said, take care of yourself. Make sure you have a mammogram some day when you’re old enough. Do that for me. Do that for her.”

Statistics from the American Cancer Society state:

The number of breast cancer deaths in woman has dropped 44 percent in the past 35 years.

But rates are still up in some cases.

• The steepest increase is in women younger than 50 by one percent each year between 2012 and 2021.
• Asian American and Pacific Island woman of any age by nearly three percent in that same time frame.
• The report also says while more white women are diagnosed... more black Women die from it.