Greenville Pathology, PA,a CAP (College of American Pathologist) accredited facility that provides a full-service laboratory in the specialties of Surgical Pathology, Cytopathology, and MolecularPathology, provided two cytotechnologists on a recent Grounds for Health trip to Jaltango, Chiapas, Mexico. Lisa Wintersteen and Beth Phillips-Ferrell, both veteran cytotechnologists with 20+ years experience each, volunteered their skills during the recent week-long campaign.

 

Grounds for Health is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to create sustainable and effective cancer screening and treatment programs with a primary focus on the early detection of cervical cancer, a leading cause of cancer death among women in developing countries.

 

Grounds for Health began as a unique partnership between American companies and coffee-growing communities in Mexico. The idea originated in 1996 when Dan Cox, president of a U.S. coffee company, became interested in helping the communities he did business with. While traveling in Mexico with a doctor friend, Dan learned that the rate of cervical cancer in Mexico and Central America were among the highest in the world. Alarmed by this fact and knowing that cervical cancer is both preventable, and when caught early, one of the most treatable cancers, he decided this was a problem he could do something about.

 

Working with a local Mexican OB/GYN, they set out to improve cervical cancer screening in the Oaxaca region. Soon, volunteer cytotechnologists and pathologists began making regular trips to the area to provide on-site training and interpretation of Pap smears. What started as a small-scale initiative has now evolved into a comprehensive program to address this devastating, yet treatable, disease. Today, Grounds for Health is partnering with communities in Mexico, Nicaragua and Tanzania, to bring better health care to women who would not otherwise have access to vital cervical cancer screening and treatment services.

 

For more information regarding Grounds for Health please visit their website:

www.GroundsforHealth.org