Kinsmen Foundation makes major donation for breast cancer screening bus

More women in Saskatchewan will have access to breast cancer screening thanks to a million-dollar donation from the Kinsmen Foundation.

The major gift, which was raised during the Kinsmen’s annual Telemiracle telethon, will go towards a new, state-of-the-art breast cancer screening vehicle for the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan.

“Breast cancer screening plays a critical, life-saving role in the thousands of women across rural Saskatchewan every year,” said Raelynn Nicholson, chair of the Kinsmen Foundation, during an event celebrating the donation on Tuesday.

Nicholson said three quarters of the cases found through the breast cancer screening program were detected at an early stage, which improves the prognosis for patients.

Nora Yeates, CEO of the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan, said the donation is the largest gift received to date, and completes the organization’s fundraising campaign to replace its 23-year-old breast screening bus with the more modern vehicle.

The current bus has accessibility issues, Yeates explained, and needs to be wider to navigate through. She said heaters need to be plugged in, the windows have leaks, and the bus is difficult to level when parked, which is a requirement for the screening equipment to operate properly.

The breast cancer screening bus travels to 40 different rural and remote areas across Saskatchewan, and has provided as many as 9,000 women with mammograms annually, serving more than 250,000 women to date.

“Screening saves lives,” Yeates said, adding that better treatment options and better outcomes are found through regular screening.

The work has already been started on the new vehicle, which Yeates said could look like an RV, or a truck and trailer.

“We are proud to be part of a province where people from all corners step up to help each other,” Yeates said.

Since 1977, The Kinsmen Foundation has been funded entirely through Telemiracle. The 48th annual telethon takes place in Regina on Feb. 24 and 25.