Transcript:
The Big Bend Sentinel reports this week that area healthcare workers are struggling to find a
mobile mammography service for the area or another option.
For ten years, Desert Imaging had brought “Mammos on the Move” to Alpine, Marfa, Terlingua
and Presidio for about a week every quarter but that ended in August.
Patients paid 100 dollars each for mammograms and the rest was financed at 61 hundred dollars
per quarter by the Big Bend Regional Hospital District.
In most areas, a hospital district is part of a local public hospital but Big Bend Regional Medical
Center is privately-owned so the hospital district is a separate entity.
When Desert Imaging suspended the mobile mammogram service in August, we tried without
success to find out why it was being discontinued. Several calls were not returned.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task force recommends women between 40 and 74 years old get a
mammogram every two years.
Now women in our area have to travel to Midland or El Paso to get that service.
The hospital has suggested that the Hospital District chip in 250 thousand dollars of the 350
thousand it would cost to get its own mammogram.
But the paper reported there is another 247 thousand it would cost to upgrade the hospital’s X-
ray equipment.
Hospital director of physician management Regina Terrazas said the upgrade is not necessarily
needed but much of the equipment is aging and will need replacement before too long.
The paper did not suggest a solution.
The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute will host the Roger Conant Distinguished Guest
Lecturer Program with Jesse Kelsch this evening at the Crowley Theater in Marfa.
You will hear about the geologic formations that make up this region.
Kelsch can take a complex subject and deliver an enlightening discussion that will make sense
out of the many different geologic activities that have taken place in the Big Bend Region.
The program starts at 7 with doors open at 6:30.
Admission is free and appetizers, along with beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be
served.
For more information, contact events@cdri.org or call 432/364-2499.
Missy Testerman, the National Teacher of the Year, will speak at Sul Ross State University this
month as part of the Poindexter Lecture Series.
The public is invited to the free event at 4:30 Thursday, October 17, hosted by the College of
Education and Professional Studies.
Testerman is a kindergarten through eighth grade English-as-a-second-language teacher who is a
staunch advocate for her students, their families and her fellow teachers.
She believes strongly in teachers embracing their role as education experts to inform decision-
makers of today’s classroom experiences to meet all students’ needs.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education and a Master of Arts in reading education
from East Tennessee State University.
She added E.S.L licensure through Freed-Hardeman University, wanting to ensure that
immigrant students and families have an advocate in their rural Appalachian area.
For more information, visit sulross.edu/education.
If this is October, that means Halloween is coming up and the Alpine Public Library is getting
into the spirit with a pumpkin pie contest.
To enter, teenagers should bring a homemade pie to the new teen room and the best tasting and
best presented will win free admission to the Kishmish Haunted House.
The contest starts at three o’clock October 26 with judging at 3:30.
It is for ages 13 to 19.
This has been your local and area news report for KVLF 98.7 FM, 1240 AM and KALP 92.7 FM
Local news can be found on our website at bigbendradio.com.