Highland County Health Department's breast cancer outreach, screening programs discussed at commissioners meeting

Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton heard updates on Health Department’s breast cancer outreach programs during a brief meeting Tuesday, Oct. 22.

The regular meeting was held a day earlier than usual due to commission staff attending training Oct. 23.

Highland County Health Commissioner Jared Warner reported a successful Brake for Breakfast event and informed commissioners of upcoming free mammogram opportunities, as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“We just encourage people, if you're interested, now is the time,” Warner said. “It's October, it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and now's the time to be thinking about it and making some plans to take care of yourself.”

The second annual Brake for Breakfast hosted by the Health Department, which included free breakfast and breast health education, was held Friday, Oct. 11 from 7-9 a.m. in the Health Department parking lot.

“This year, we added an additional 100 free breakfasts and giveaway bags, so we went from 250 to 350, and we gave them all out in about an hour,” Warner said. “It was really well attended. Of course, that whole event is designed to get people aware of the resources that are available right here in Highland County to get mammogram screenings and really encourage women of the county to take those preventative steps to find problems early.”

To help not only promote, but facilitate those preventative steps, the Health Department is teaming up with Highland District Hospital to offer no-cost digital screening mammograms Nov. 11 from 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

“We’ve talked before about one of our big problems in Highland County is not our cancer rate, but it’s our cancer rate of death,” Warner said. “We have more people dying of cancer than most other parts of the state because we're finding problems late. We're really trying to encourage people to look for problems early.”

To qualify for a free mammogram, you must be a woman age 40 or older who: has not had a mammogram within one year; does not have a problem with either breast; and has either no insurance, limited insurance or a high deductible.

“This is a partnership, and it's something we've been doing with Highland District for several years now, just trying to make sure people understand that we have really high-quality diagnostic and imaging screening resources here in the county,” Warner said. “This is like an early detection, screening type of event.

“This is your chance to get the screening at no cost. We don't want the cost factor to be a barrier to anybody who's interested in getting that screening.”

Pre-registration is required. Call (937) 393-6266 to schedule your appointment.

However, Warner said that if that date “is not an option for someone's schedule,” the Health Department may be able to assist with getting a mammogram scheduled through a different program.

“There's another program that we've been working with, and it's sponsored by Premier Health and the Ohio Department of Health Breast and Cervical Cancer Project,” Warner said. “There are some resources with this program that can support low-cost or no-cost mammogram screenings as well.

“The nice thing about this breast cancer and cervical cancer prevention program that Premier Health does is they can cover the cost of local services and work with Highland District to schedule something on a time that works with somebody and get that cost covered.”

Warner added that several years ago, the Health Department was informed that there were “eight women locally who found something” suspicious in a mammogram during one of the events the Health Department co-sponsored with HDH.

“It really is making a difference,” Warner said. “It's not something where we waste all these resources and nothing good's coming of it. It made some big impact in some local families, so it's an important one to work on.”

Following their meeting with Warner, commissioners were scheduled to have a work session with McCarty Associates to continue ongoing discussions of remodeling/improvements to the Highland County Administration Building.

Commissioners also made the following approvals, each by a 3-0 vote:

• A contract with Hattan Farms for crop land at the Leesburg Industrial Park. As previously reported, Hattan Farms were the apparent high bidders out of five proposals opened at commissioners’ Oct. 9 meeting, with a bid of  $240 rent per acre or $14,160.

• A quote from BNM Painting & Remodeling to paint and/or repair doors and door frames throughout the Administration Building, at a cost of $4,600.

• A resolution to approve the reappointment of Danielle Whitt to the Highland County Law Library Resources Board, effective Jan. 1, 2025, expiring Dec. 31, 2029.

• A budget modification within the 1000 General Fund in the amount of $6,500.

• A budget modification within the 1000 General Fund in the amount of $43,000.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 1000 General Fund in the amount of $16,000.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 1000
County General Fund in the amount of $40,000.

• A budget modification within the 1000 General Fund in the amount of $7,000.

• A budget modification within the 2625 TCAP FY24-25 fund in the amount of $1,586.58.

• A resolution authorizing an application to be submitted to the Ohio Department of Transportation in the amount of $2,365 for Reconstruct Airport Drainage/Erosion Control Design Project by the President of the Highland County Airport Authority.

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