North Carolina University Gets $70K for Mobile Cancer Clinic

A university in North Carolina is bringing hope to rural communities where getting a cancer screening can mean the difference between life and death.

Winston-Salem State University just secured $70,000 from national and local health organizations to upgrade its mobile health unit. The van will travel to remote areas where less than 3% of the state's primary care doctors practice, offering free cancer screenings to people who might otherwise go without.

The timing matters. People living in rural areas are 5% less likely to survive at least five years after a cancer diagnosis compared to those in cities, according to the American Cancer Society. Cancer is North Carolina's second leading cause of death, and the gap between rural and urban survival rates keeps widening.

Lori Petty knows these challenges personally. The WSSU program specialist survived aggressive triple-negative breast cancer while living in Thomasville, where the nearest hospital sits 30 minutes away. After chemotherapy sessions left her body compromised, even that half-hour drive felt impossible.

"Sometimes after taking chemotherapy, you really feel like your body's compromised," Petty said. She helped organize WSSU's first-ever symposium on rural health disparities, turning her experience into action.

Dr. Melissa Foster, a WSSU organizer and cancer survivor herself, sees the mobile unit as a game changer. "We want to help them, but they can't get to us," she said. "Making it more accessible to people who live in these remote areas" could save lives through earlier detection.

The Ripple Effect

The mobile health unit spent this academic year grounded on campus for repairs. Now it's getting a major upgrade and heading back into the communities that need it most. The $70,000 investment will help the university reach vulnerable neighborhoods where cancer screenings are rare and mortality rates run high.

WSSU leaders hope their model inspires other universities across North Carolina to launch similar programs. By bringing medical care directly to people instead of waiting for them to travel, they're proving that geography doesn't have to determine who survives cancer.

The symposium and mobile unit represent a simple truth: access to early screening saves lives, and now more rural North Carolinians will have that chance.