Clinic in Greenup will offer free ovarian cancer screenings for Northeast Ky. women

Women in Northeastern Kentucky will be able to receive free ovarian cancer screenings thanks to funding that will set up a clinic in Greenup County.

The clinic is intended for women in Lewis, Carter, Elliott, Greenup and Boyd counties, as well as two counties in Ohio, but "certainly anyone who arrives at the clinic who meets the requirements will be eligible for screening," said Parry Barrows, spokeswoman for Gov. Steve Beshear's office. Eligible women must be age 50 and older or over the age of 25 who have a family history of ovarian cancer.

The clinic will be an expansion of a program that has been in place in Lexington since 1987. As of September, more than 200,000 screenings have been performed on more than 37,000 Kentucky women as part of the program.

To build the clinic, which will be located in the Greenup County Health Department, a $200,000 Appalachian Regional Commission grant will be combined with $45,000 from UK. The health department will contribute $66,600.

"Funding will go toward purchasing required equipment and furnishings, as well as provide program operations for up to 3 years," saysa press release from Beshear's office. "UK will train local ultrasound technicians to facilitate the scans and the UK Markey Cancer Center will read the scans and deliver patient reports."

"Establishing this satellite clinic ... will help save lives by giving women in northeast Kentucky and southern Ohio better access to free ovarian cancer screenings," said Chris Crum, director of the Greenup County Health Department. (Read more)