CHARLESTON, W.Va.— With the success of Bonnie’s Bus, the mobile mammography unit in West Virginia, WVU Medicine will be expanding the unit with the addition of a second bus, they announced Tuesday afternoon.
Bonnie’s Bus was created in 2009 by Jo and Ben Statler, the daughter and son-in-law of Bonnie Wells Wilson who passed away in 1992 due to the limited access to screening mammography and who the bus was named after, because they wanted to do something in honor of Bonnie, while also preventing other families from losing a loved one to breast cancer. It’s in partnership with WVU Cancer Institute Mobile Cancer Screening Program.
Jo Statler said that her husband was the one that came to her about doing something to honor her mother.
“After mom passed, he said, someday, if ever we can, I want to do something in memory of your mom, in honor of your mom,” Statler said during the presentation.
And when that day came in 2009, they called WVU Medicine and talked about what was needed in West Virginia because they wanted it to come from the heart.
“We wanted it to be meaningful and something that was useful to the women of West Virginia,” Statler said.
And it has been, since its start Bonnie’s Bus has provided more than 30,400 screening mammograms and has identified at least 180 cases of breast cancer.
Hannah Hazard-Jenkins
And Executive Chair and Director of the WVU Cancer Institute Hannah Hazard-Jenkins said that the bus was designed to go to individuals that live in communities that don’t have the best access to this medical care.
“If anybody knows anything about West Virginia it’s quite rural and very rugged and so access to medical care in general but in particular screenings is very difficult,” Hazard-Jenkins said. “Most of the time it’s a stationary center, so you have to travel large distances. And the beauty of Bonnie’s Bus is that it travels to communities, so it comes to smaller communities, larger communities.”
And since the response for Bonnie’s Bus has been so great, Bonnie’ Bus 2, is a great way to expand what the program has started.
“Bonnie’s Bus 2 is in response to the fact that the request for Bonnie’s Bus 1 far exceeds the capabilities of the current program. And so, this enables us to be able to go to more communities and provide more life-saving screenings than we can at the moment,” Hazard-Jenkins said.
Hazard-Jenkins said that the unit was able to grow because the conversion to 3-D mammography required for a bigger unit, thus creating the bus that they have now.
“So, it started out as a much smaller unit, and then we converted over to 3-D mammography, the unit we had before was not big enough, couldn’t support that,” Hazard-Jenkins said.
And since staff were able to be out in the communities and learning what they need, Bonnie’s Bus two, was created to help them reach more people.
“Conceptually, I think, what we call academic detailing, which means we are out into communities, understanding what their needs are how would they respond to a mobile screening coming to their communities,” Hazard-Jenkins said.
She also said that the creation of the buses is all about partnership, WVU Medicine partners with local medical providers to give patients the care they need.
Funding for Bonnie’s Bus 2 initial equipment and staff, will be supported by a grant that was provided by Aetna Better Health of West Virginia. And the Thomas Foundation will be holding a Pink Soiree in March 2025, at the Embassy Suites in Charleston in the effort to help support the second unit.
Bonnie’s Bus 2 is expected to be traveling to communities in early 2026.