Sharing More Than a Ride: Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Novel Approach to Cervical Cancer Screening Breaks Down Barriers for Immigrant Women

The Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center shifted community outreach to the fast lane this fall with a groundbreaking pilot program to provide door-to-door rideshare transportation, interpretation services and social support for Bengali immigrant women to receive cervical cancer screenings.

The Shuttles2Screening program, which was designed to increase access to lifesaving preventive care with special consideration for the cultural, social and language needs of South Asian immigrant women in the Bronx, was a joint effort of Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Bronx Oncology Living Daily (BOLD) program, the American Cancer Society (ACS) and Sapna NYC, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting health and social justice for women from Bangladesh, one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities in New York City.

The vision for Shuttles2Screening came from the Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Community Advisory Board, which identified access to transportation as a major barrier to healthcare access in the Bronx. Previously, the center’s cervical cancer screening outreach, funded by a 2022 grant from the ACS, addressed the transportation issue by providing participants with prepaid, round-trip MetroCards to attend Saturday screening events. But the Sapna partnership provided the opportunity for a creative new approach: On-demand rideshare service between the Sapna house on Waterbury Avenue and the Comprehensive Family Care Center on Eastchester Road, both in the Bronx.

“Using rideshares was a more systematic way to address transportation, with the added benefit of door-to-door service. The social component was not only fun, it made the women feel more comfortable with the screening experience,” said Breanne Lott, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology & Population Health (Health Behavior Research & Implementation Science), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who created the program in collaboration with Johnna Bakalar, MPH, Project Manager for Community Outreach and Research Partnerships for BOLD, and representatives from Sapna.

The women traveled to and from their screenings in groups of three or four, along with Bangla-speaking interpreters coordinated by Sapna. The interpreters stayed with the participants every step of the way, including, at the women’s request, in the exam room. Since all the women being screened knew each other previously through Sapna, the familiarity of friendly faces was a comfort throughout the day.

Thanks to the success of the Sapna collaboration, the number of women screened at the September event set a record for the highest participation since the ACS cervical cancer screening initiative began in 2022. One-third of the women who participated through Sapna received their first-ever Pap tests at the event. The program also proved cost-effective, with the total cost of rideshare service for participants, interpreters and other volunteers coming in slightly below what it would have cost to provide MetroCards for the patients alone.

Numerous Montefiore Einstein staff and leaders at our partner organizations were instrumental in the program’s success. They include Alyson B. Moadel-Robblee, PhD, Deputy Director, Community Engagement and Cancer Health Equity, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center; Wendy K. Leung, MD, MPH, Complex Family Planning, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, Montefiore Einstein; David Cepeda, Community Outreach Consultant for the Cervical Cancer Screening Initiative, BOLD; and the entire BOLD team; as well as Sapna NYC Executive Director Diya Basu-Sen and Deputy Director Naurin Islam.

Special thanks go to Connie Bordenga, MD, MS, Associate Director for Cancer Center Partnerships, American Cancer Society, whose work makes our ongoing bimonthly cervical cancer screening initiative possible, and to the three physicians who helped establish the broader program: Sara Isani, MD, Interim Division Director, Gynecologic Oncology, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Associate Vice Chair, Education and Fellowship Program Director, Gynecologic Oncology Division, Associate Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and former Montefiore Einstein doctors, Amanda C. Rivera, MD, and Talitha L. Bruney, MD.

Thanks to the success of the Sapna collaboration, the number of women screened at the September event set a record for the highest participation since the ACS cervical cancer screening initiative began in 2022. One-third of the women who participated through Sapna received their first-ever Pap tests at the event. The program also proved cost-effective, with the total cost of rideshare service for participants, interpreters and other volunteers coming in slightly below what it would have cost to provide MetroCards for the patients alone.

Numerous Montefiore Einstein staff and leaders at our partner organizations were instrumental in the program’s success. They include Alyson B. Moadel-Robblee, PhD, Deputy Director, Community Engagement and Cancer Health Equity, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center; Wendy K. Leung, MD, MPH, Complex Family Planning, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, Montefiore Einstein; David Cepeda, Community Outreach Consultant for the Cervical Cancer Screening Initiative, BOLD; and the entire BOLD team; as well as Sapna NYC Executive Director Diya Basu-Sen and Deputy Director Naurin Islam.

Special thanks go to Connie Bordenga, MD, MS, Associate Director for Cancer Center Partnerships, American Cancer Society, whose work makes our ongoing bimonthly cervical cancer screening initiative possible, and to the three physicians who helped establish the broader program: Sara Isani, MD, Interim Division Director, Gynecologic Oncology, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Associate Vice Chair, Education and Fellowship Program Director, Gynecologic Oncology Division, Associate Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and former Montefiore Einstein doctors, Amanda C. Rivera, MD, and Talitha L. Bruney, MD.

After seeing the event’s overwhelming success, Dr. Lott and Ms. Bakalar are highly encouraged that the model could be extended to other types of screenings, appointments and programs across Montefiore Einstein.

“The framework that we laid out is very easy to follow, as well as translatable and scalable for a larger health system initiative,” Bakalar said. At scale, Shuttles2Screening could have a powerful impact on removing barriers to care, improving the health of the communities we serve and furthering Montefiore Einstein’s mission of reducing health disparities in the Bronx and beyond.

Sapna NYC works with South Asian immigrant women and families in NYC, addressing health inequities, fostering women’s empowerment and building community power. Sapna NYC offers a wide range of culturally attuned, linguistically accessible programs and services, including a robust portfolio of educational and service-based health programming. Recognizing that physical health, mental health and women’s empowerment are all linked, Sapna NYC strives to help women access the services and information they need to live full, engaged lives in their new home country. Sapna NYC accepts client referrals at 718-828-9772 or info@sapnanyc.org.