Women generally are well aware that once they reach a certain age, mammograms are in their best interest.
Sometimes they need a gentle push in that direction, and UPMC Health Plan offers a distinctive one for its members.
“We call them on the phone to invite them, or we send them an email,” health plan program director David Schehr said. “We hear from them that they wouldn’t have had it otherwise, and they were happy that we reached out to them.”
The invitations are to wellness events with the catchy name of Mamm O’ Glam, during which participants receive spa-type services to go along with their screenings.
On June 25, more than 40 women scheduled appointments for the event at the UPMC Outpatient Center in Hampton. Greeting them were seven South Hills/North Hills Beauty Academy cosmetology students, who provided the likes of massages, manicures and mini-facials.
“Coming to events like this gives them the opportunity to actually work in the community, to see if this is a field they might journey into later,” Sandahl Taylor, a licensed cosmetology instructor for the academy, said. “The other fun thing about coming to these events is you get to actually know your students a little bit more. You get to know their personalities, how they interact with different clients and different environments.
“And for them, it’s a day outside of school.”
Even though she’s younger than the recommended age, Taylor took time during Mamm O’ Glam for her own low-dose X-ray screening, as an example of practicing what she and her colleagues preach.
“As an educator with the beauty academy, we do try to teach these women — and we do have male students — how important it is to be preventative in your health care,” she said.
Schehr and his colleagues take a similar point of view.
“A health plan is as interested in keeping you healthy as much as your doctor is,” he said, “and I don’t know that the average consumer understands that.”
In addition to the other perks, women who attended the Hampton Mamm O’ Glam received South Hills/North Hills Beauty Academy gifts bags, either breakfast or lunch and plenty of refreshments. The next event is July 26 at the UPMC Outpatient Center at 275 Clairton Blvd., West Mifflin, and others are scheduled for Aug. 9 and Sept. 6 at UPMC Magee-Womens Imaging, 4075 Monroeville Blvd., Monroeville.
UPMC Health Plan launched the Mamm O’ Glam program in 2022. Last year, about 130 women received screenings, according to Schehr.
“It’s an opportunity for us to meet the members, instead of just having them schedule and come in on any random day,” he said. “It gives us an opportunity to come out and say hello.”
For more information, www.upmchealthplan.com/about/news/events.aspx.
