Mission Hope offers free cancer screenings in Santa Maria

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Mission Hope Cancer Center in Santa Maria is offering three cancer screening clinics during the months of September and October.

Cynthia Maldonado, RN, the Outreach and Registry Supervisor at Mission Hope Cancer Center, said, “if you know anything about cancer, you know that it's been proven that early detection is key to survival. And that's what we're really trying to get out to the community. We want you to know that don't be afraid to get screened. I think there's a lot of people that are afraid to just come out and get that cancer screening because they don't want to hear the diagnosis.”

Mission Hope treats all kinds of cancers. They would like to give back to the community reaching out to the rural areas. The free clinics that are coming up are for people without health insurance or who are underinsured. 

This Saturday, Sept. 16, 20 people have made appointments for skin cancer screening with 20-30 appointments available.

Maldonado said, “it's so important to let the community know that Mission Hope is here for you and we support you. Early detection is key to survival. We have a lot of sunlight here where we live by the beaches and we're out in the sun. And if you even have, one sunburn a year, it's one sunburn too many.” 

The screening dates are below:

• Saturday, Sept. 16 - Skin cancer screening.
• Saturday, Sept. 30 - Prostate cancer screening. 
• Saturday, Oct. 14 - Great cancer and cervical cancer screening.

The screenings are scheduled by appointments only. The clinic is located at 1325 E. Church St. in Santa Maria.

To make an appointment, call 805-219-4673.

“Mission Hope is an accredited facility, it's really important that we raise the bar, we're raising the standards and we're trying to get that diagnosis early and we're trying to get as much screening out there as possible. So we know early detection, it saves lives. So please come up for one of these free cancer screenings,” said Maldonado.