Panhandle Health District
8500 N. Atlas Road Hayden, Idaho 83835
www.phd1.idaho.gov
Health District Exam Starts Road to Recovery
By Cynthia Taggart
Panhandle Health District
Grooming dogs brightened Lisa Daniel’s days and supported her family, but it made finding affordable health insurance a challenge for the single mother. A conscientious parent, Lisa made sure her two children’s medical needs were covered. She saved money on herself, forgoing insurance coverage and paying out of pocket for her annual female exam.
“I paid one year and then someone told me about the Panhandle Health District,” says Lisa, the owner of K-9 Cottage in Post Falls. “What a relief.”
Panhandle Health District offers breast and pelvic exams to women with limited or no health insurance through the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and federally funded Women’s Health Check programs.
The PHD nurse who examined Lisa this year found a lump in her right breast and scheduled a mammogram for her. Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer. On Aug. 31, she had a double mastectomy.
“It was my choice,” she said. “I felt like a ticking time bomb.”
When breast exams reveal possible problems and further medical care is needed, PHD signs women up for the Women’s Health Check program. The program is primarily for lower income women ages 50 through 64 without insurance coverage for breast and cervical cancer screenings. It offers further screening to eligible women ages 30 through 49 after initial screening indicates and a health professional confirms a suspicion of cancer.
The Coeur d’Alene Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation primarily helps women and men younger than 50 with limited incomes and no medical insurance or only catastrophic health insurance.
Between Women’s Health Check and money from the local Komen chapter, PHD was able to screen about 1,100 people in the five northern counties this year for breast and/or cervical cancer. Sixteen of those people were diagnosed with breast cancer.
Since Lisa’s breast lump was found in June, she’s spent her summer bouncing from tests to surgery to numbing news. Doctors found four cancerous lumps during surgery in July that was scheduled to remove one. Cancer remained after the surgery. Lisa is a strong woman who jokes about her cancer to help herself deal with it, but the news that cancer remained brought her to tears.
“I needed a chest X-ray and blood work, but I just said, “I have to go,’ and went to my car and sat,” she said.
PHD helped Lisa apply for Medicaid, which covered her medical bills. In preparation for chemotherapy following her double mastectomy, she made plans to cut her long hair and donate it to Locks of Love.
Lisa is recovering from her double mastectomy now. She wants others to know about the services offered through Panhandle Health District.
“I tell them there’s help out there. They just have to go to the Panhandle Health District,” she said. “I have a group of girlfriends that comes by every night to check on me. I want them all to know there’s help for them.”
People with the following annual income levels are eligible for the Women’s Health Check program and funding from the Komen Coeur d’Alene affiliate:
Panhandle Health District offers services in all five northern counties: