Published: March 12, 2007 08:47 am         

State 'cares' for cancer victims

EDMOND — Felicitas Poe felt a strange lump in her breast when laying in bed.

The 34-year-old is among the 182,800 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year, according to the American Cancer Society. More than 41,000 women will die from the disease this year, making breast cancer the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in American women.

State lawmakers enacted breast and cervical cancer legislation in 2004 by passing SB 1609. The bill expanded the composition of the Oklahoma Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment Advisory Committee to identify populations at highest risk for breast or cervical cancer and to recommend actions to reduce the costs of this disease, said Cathy McKinney of Edmond, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.

“I think it’s saved my life,” said Felicitas Poe, a single mother of two young daughters in Edmond. “If it wasn’t for this program there’s no other way I would be able to afford the costs.”

Poe was without insurance as a self-employed architectural designer. Her breast cancer treatments, including chemotherapy and four surgeries, have totaled more than $250,000 in two years, she said. She was helped by Oklahoma Cares, a program of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.

The state appropriated the sum of $2.5 million to OHCA to provide breast and cervical cancer treatment services. It also created the Belle Maxine Hilliard Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Revolving Fund “to consist of all moneys received by OHCA from appropriations, gifts or donations and may be expended by OHCA for the above treatment for women eligible for Medicaid,” McKinney said.

Oklahoma Cares has served nearly 10,000 Oklahoma women since January 2005, said Jackie Keyser, case manager with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. To make the program a success, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority is joined in partnership with the Oklahoma State Department of Health, the Cherokee Nation, the Kaw Nation and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

Oklahoma Cares also provides care management services and transportation to meet the needs of women to receive treatment.

Full SoonerCare benefits are provided to women during the duration of their cancer treatments. Eligibility requirements include being diagnosed with a need for cancer treatment, being between ages 19 and 65, and being without insurance coverage for breast or cervical cancer, Keyser said.

Women need not be impoverished to meet the criteria of the program. A registered nurse, Keyser also manages Poe’s case with the breast and cervical cancer program.

She’s also grateful that being placed on the program is quick and convenient. “There’s definitely help out there. This program is a lifesaver,” Poe said.

     

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