ACCESS Clinic

“Improving health services for women with disabilities”

The Access clinic offers breast (breast exams and mammograms) and gynecological (pap smears) cancer screening to women with disabilities who cannot be seen at their doctor’s office.

Mission

The mission of the Access Clinic is to enhance the health of women with disabilities by:

Developing a model to address the primary health care needs (including gynecological and breast screening services) to women with disabilities using a women-centered framework.
Developing and providing appropriate and accessible health information and resources to women with disabilities and their health care providers.
Encouraging national research into the health needs of women with disabilities and of the health services to women with disabilities.
Training primary care practitioners in issues related to women with disabilities.
Developing the capacity to inform policy pertaining to the health and health care of women with disabilities.
Disseminating information concerning important disability service, policy and research.

Rationale for the Clinic

Cervical cancer is almost totally preventable with appropriate use of the cervical cancer screening test(pap smear).
Since the start of the B.C. cervical cancer screening program in 1960, the incidence of cervical cancer has declined by 50 per cent and cervical cancer deaths have been reduced by 78 per cent over the past 50 years.
The majority of invasive carcinomas diagnosed are in women who either never have been screened or who have not had a screening test for more than five years.
The hard to reach population form the majority of the subgroups that are most at risk of cervical cancer and, moreover, present later in the disease process and are most at risk for dying of the disease. Women with disabilities form a significant part of the hard to reach group.

A research study revealed that 50 per cent of women with disabilities had not had cervical cancer screening within the last five years. Thirty per cent had not had mammography. http://www.bccewh.bc.ca/PDFs/werewomentoo.pdf

All women have barriers to screening, which include time constraints, costs, childcare, language and literacy differences, lack of knowledge and cultural differences. All these barriers affect how difficult or easy it may be for women to follow screening recommendations. Women with disabilities face additional barriers:

The inability to find a doctor and setting that feels safe
An accessible office, exam table and personal care assistant
The belief that the exam is not necessary because of the disability; medical people believe the disability is more important than the screening; not seeing disabled women as sexual beings
The lack of information about the need for an exam or of how to find care