Nurse Holds Breast Cancer Patients’ Hands

The reluctant teacher’s aide stepped into the blue, white and gold mobile mammography coach parked outside an East Los Angeles school, her worst fears about to be realized. Her breast screening would reveal an early-stage cancer.

But unlike so many women who have fallen through the cracks of the county’s health-care system, she wouldn’t have to tackle her care on her own. Nurse practitioner Marci Lovett of Granada Hills was there to guide her through the process, from the day the cancer was detected to the last treatment she received at Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center.

That was two years ago. Today the teacher’s aide is fully recovered, thanks to the UCLA-Iris Cantor Center for Breast Imaging Mobile Mammography Service. The service, which offers state-of-the art imaging and processing devices aboard the 38-foot mobile coach, was developed by Lovett at the university’s Jonsson Cancer Center in 1993.

“I am so passionate about this program,” Lovett said. “My mission is to empower those women who don’t have access to the health-care system, to learn about self-exams and the basic necessities of preventive care. This work is so meaningful to me.”

It must be. Lovett, 40, has devoted much of the last three years--often seven days a week--to the outreach program. More than 6,000 women have been reached, 4,000 of them last year.

Lovett oversees all procedures on the vehicle, which makes regular stops at YWCAs, veterans’ hospitals and schools from downtown to San Fernando. She leads the follow-up case management for every woman whose mammogram indicates she needs further treatment.

Because breast cancer symptoms are not always obvious, the toughest challenge, according to Lovett, is getting women to agree to a screening at all. Many of her patients don’t believe they’re sick, or are embarrassed to be seen by a doctor.

Lovett relies on community leaders to build the trust of her culturally diverse patients. She recalled that her first site visit in 1995 attracted only four women. Last year, the mobile team screened 4,000 patients.

The Chicago native decided on a nursing career during her teens, when she served as a volunteer Candy Striper. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing in Illinois in 1980, and a master’s degree from UCLA six years later.

After becoming a nurse practitioner--which allows her to perform almost all the same functions as a doctor--she was hired by UCLA to establish and head up a comprehensive breast health program that would oversee all levels of care for women.

In 1993, philanthropist Iris Cantor endowed the mammography program with a large donation. Additional funds were raised at a luncheon attended by Hillary Rodham Clinton, who also cut the ribbon on the mobile coach at a ceremony the next year.

Lovett, who is married and has two young children, was honored recently for her service to women’s health with an Incredible Woman Making History Award sponsored by the YWCA, NBC-TV and The Los Angeles Times.

“Marci has sacrificed in many ways for what she believes in,” said Lawrence Bassett, a UCLA radiologist and professor of breast imaging who works closely with Lovett. “Even though we operate at a zero-budget level, she does an incredible job. We just couldn’t do this without her.”

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