What is Women's Wellness Connection?  

Women's Wellness Connection is making it easier for Colorado women to live healthy, cancer-free lives and make our free breast and cervical cancer screening program more accessible to women in Teller County.  The program is dedicated to providing free breast and cervical cancer screening to low income, uninsured and underserved women across Colorado.

• Ninety-six percent of women screened by Women's Wellness Connection are cancer-free.
•  Regardless of test results, Women's Wellness Connection helps women through the entire screening process to offer hope, comfort and quality care.
•  Women who are diagnosed with cancer through the Women's Wellness Connection program may be able to receive treatment services through Medicaid.
•  Women's Wellness Connection provides breast and cervical cancer screenings and selected diagnostic services to eligible women at more than 120 sites through cooperative efforts of multiple statewide providers.
•  Women's Wellness Connection has screened an average of 10,500 women each program year for the last five years. In FY 2005-06, Women's Wellness Connection instituted a Screen More Women Now! project that resulted in serving 3,300 more eligible women. Women's Wellness Connection aims to significantly increase the number of screenings each year for the next five years.
•  Women's Wellness Connection is administered through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and has been the recipient of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) grant since 1991.

Women's Wellness Connection Program Eligibility

  Women's Wellness Connection screenings are provided free to women who:

•       Live in Colorado.
•       Are legal residents of the United States.
•       Are 40 - 64 years old.
•       Have limited or no insurance to pay for these exams.
•       Have not had a Pap test or Mammogram in the last 12 months.
•       Must meet income guidelines, please view income table below.

Effective as of January 23, 2009

For families with more than 8 persons, add $9,350 annually, or $779 monthly, for each additional person.

Women's Wellness Connection provides free mammograms to eligible women ages 50-64, and to high risk women ages 40-49.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call TCPH at 687-6416.

To find out if they qualify, women should visit www.womenswellnessconnection.org and click "See if you qualify," or call 1-866-951-WELL (9355) for more information.

Women's Wellness Connection Hotline

In 2007 Women's Wellness Connection launched a new statewide hotline (1-866-951-WELL), making the free breast and cervical cancer screening program more  accessible to low income, uninsured and underserved women across the state. 

Operated and answered by the American Cancer society, the hotline is a great resource to answer questions, provide additional information about the program and to help women make appointments with local women's Wellness Connection screening providers.

Women's Wellness Connection Funding

Women's Wellness Connection is administered through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and has been the recipient of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) grant since 1991.

Through the Women's Wellness Connection Program, the CDC's NBCCEDP funds agencies to provide screening services, including clinical breast exams, mammograms, pelvic exams and Pap tests to underserved women.

Through the Women's Wellness Connection Program, the CDC's NBCCEDP also funds post-screening diagnostic services, such as surgical consultation and biopsy to ensure that all women with abnormal results receive timely and adequate referrals.

 Women's Breast Health Project (WBHP)   

Will pay for mammogram screenings for women age 40-49 who qualify and under 40 who are considered high risk.

Qualifications for this program are based on the following:

• Colorado Resident
• Uninsured/under-insured
• At least 12 months since your last screening or have lost insurance, had an abnormal and need follow-up.
• Family size and income based on the WWC income guidelines

About Breast Cancer

•   Eighty percent of breast lumps are non-cancerous.

•   When caught early, 98 percent of women live to survive breast cancer.

•   Early on, most breast cancers don't cause any physical symptoms, so without regular screening there's no way of knowing you have it.

•   Annual mammography combined with clinical breast exams and appropriate and timely follow-up treatment for women age 50 and older can reduce breast cancer mortality by about one-third.

•   Every woman's breast tissue is different and unique. Getting screened every year is very important in helping health care providers find small changes in breast tissue that may help find cancer as early as possible.

About Cervical Cancer

•   A Pap test can find cervical abnormal cells years before any cancer actually exists.

•   Early on, cervical cancer usually doesn't cause any physical symptoms, so without a test there is no way of knowing it's there.

•   The earlier cervical cancer is found, the better the chances of successful treatment and survival. In fact, when cervical cancer is found early, there is 92 percent survival rate.

•   Getting a Pap test every year is the only way to find abnormal cells.