Hustle and Heat Podcast Ep28 | Dollars For Mammograms

In Episode 28 of Hustle & Heat, we sit down with Rita Bertler, founder of Dollars for Mammograms. Rita shares the inspiring story behind the nonprofit, its mission to provide no-cost mammograms and support services for uninsured and underinsured women, and how early detection can save lives. We discuss the challenges many women face in accessing healthcare, the impact the organization has had throughout Southwest Florida, and how the community can get involved to help make a difference.

Whether you're passionate about community service, healthcare advocacy, or simply love hearing stories about people making a real impact, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

🎙️ Hustle & Heat highlights the entrepreneurs, nonprofits, leaders, and changemakers helping shape our community.

#HustleAndHeat #DollarsForMammograms #RitaBertler #SWFL #BreastCancerAwareness #CommunityImpact

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, guys, and welcome back to another episode of Hustle and Heat Podcast. My name is George, your host, and welcome to episode 28. Today we're broadcasting and displaying a good cause that uh this fine young lady does in the area. Um if you guys haven't heard of an organization called Dollars for Mammograms, Dollars for Mammograms is a Southwest Florida 501c3 nonprofit founded in the year of 2000. Its mission is to provide no-cause breast cancer detection services, financial assistance for additional diagnosis, and post-diagnosis care and educational support for radiology students. The organization serves communities including Northport Venice, Englewood, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, and the surrounding areas. It focuses on helping uninsured and underinsured residents obtain potentially life-saving breast health services. So without further ado, I would like to welcome Miss Rita Bertler. Rita, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Thank you, George. Dollars for Mammograms has been uh was founded due to my own uh breast health history. Uh I realized that at the time there were so many women out there that were not being tested, and mammograms do uh save lives. We service all of Charlotte County and South Sarasota County up through Nokomas. We provide no-cost breast cancer detection testing, a financial assistance for those that need further diagnosis and post-diagnostic care, and we also have scholarships for students who are studying radiology.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Very nice. So you had a history of breast cancer yourself, is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Well, George, I was very, very, very blessed. I had my mother was a breast cancer survivor, and in um May of 1999, my mammogram showed that uh I definitely had uh either a sister or tumor they weren't sure. We I had to have a lumpy in order to be diagnosed because uh it couldn't be determined by uh uh a breast ultrasound or a diagnostic mammogram. And so when the results came back, I was I was benign. The substance in the tumor was benign, but it was what was in there, if it had gone undetected, it would have turned to breast cancer. So that was that was the first time in May. Then in October, there's another one. And I was thoroughly convinced and scared to death that when I went to uh when they tested me, I definitely was going to be my mother's daughter and have breast cancer. Again, it was the same thing. It was it was benign. This time I had to have a stereotactic biopsy in order to be diagnosed. And when we walked out of the doctor's office, I said to my husband, um, I have to do something about this. There's no doubt about that uh a screening mammogram can save your life, because that's how my first, you know. So mammograms do save uh save lives. And don't ask me how I was lucky the third time because there was uh shortly after the October incident, there there was another one, and it was the same thing. So if I want to been being screened, and so many women uh uh and men are not screened, and uh so a mammogram basically saved my life. So I just decided I had to do something about this uh that uh uh people needed help with no-cost testing, uh especially in an area like this. We uh oh it's all over the country, but in this particular area uh area, as you know, George, we there is not a large uh lot of factories or uh industries where you're provided a large group insurance like uh a good group insurance like I was when I lived in a larger city. Uh most people have to insure themselves, and so sometimes they're underinsured or just can't even afford insurance, and thus dollars for mammograms was born. We started to uh it started small because uh I mean I really had no no funds, and uh my husband and I were in the restaurant business at at that particular time, and my customers stood behind me. And George, you know how customers get uh get behind uh good events, they get behind the fundraiser you do for dollars for mammograms every every year. And uh I managed to find uh uh find an imaging uh uh center for us uh and uh I had a lawyer that wrote all of my articles of incorporation and a CPA that helped push me through for my 501c3. So all of a sudden, it took about a year to do that, and all of a sudden, so here we are ready to go. And so uh it meant forms, it meant all kinds of things that you haven't thought about when you have an idea like this. But throughout uh throughout the years we have managed to expand from just the Anglewood area, the Anglewood uh all the way through uh for uh I need to back up. So as we started in Anglewood area, but then as we fundraised uh and people donated to us, we were able to expand zip code areas, and then I was very, very fortunate I spoke at a business professional woman of Port Charlotte, and a business owner in Ponti Gordon heard me speak, and she asked me afterwards why we weren't all the way through Port Charlotte, and I said, well, we couldn't uh we we can't afford it financially. I says, I'm the the I says we uh don't want to want to take on more service areas and not be able to service those we already had, and she said to me, I'm gonna talk to a group. And they I they the girls were called the GNOs and they started doing what was known as the Barstool Open, and they did it for us for 10 years, and my agreement was that I would come all the way through uh Charlotte County, and I said to uh I and I and they also agreed at that time because I was already into the Northport 34287 uh that if we could expand the rest of our service area, and they agreed to it, and thus we service that huge area. But what I really want, so that's sort of the history of dollars for mammograms. And uh but throughout the years uh we didn't only expand our service area, we expanded uh our testing. We started when we first started, we could only afford to pay for screening mammograms. And then as we got more funds, uh we added more services. Today we uh for our no-cost testing, we provide no-cost mammograms, diagnos screening mammograms, diagnostic mammograms, breast altar sounds, U.S. guided biopsies, and uh MRI breast altar sounds to our recipients. We cannot contract for further testing if they need further diagnosis because uh that involves hospitalization and all kinds of things that a small 501c3 board, just a volunteer board, just could not handle. So uh our answer to that is uh this medical grant assistance that we launched in uh January. We uh it's for further diagnosis in case there's somebody like I was that needed more than an MRI breast ultrasound in order to be diagnosed. Uh maybe they need the stereotactic biopsy or the lumpectomy. So we we have financial aid for that. For anybody in our service area, they did not necessarily have they do not necessarily have to have been our recipient for their testing. So that is for any man or woman who lives in Charlotte County, in Northport, in Venice, or Nacomas for uh area. And so uh that's what the further diagnosis is all about. But then there's the post-diagnostic care. We all know even if you have good insurance, uh treatment is extremely, extremely uh expensive. Uh you know, uh people just need help, and this is what we're trying to do. We're trying to get the word out about uh about our service because we offer help for today and hope for tomorrow. And uh we hope if there's somebody out there, we're here to help you. All our information is on our website, how to apply. The application's there, it's uh for the testing, the application is there for the uh medical grant assistance. So I'm hoping by doing this podcast with George today that uh the word gets out there. We're here to help.org.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

That's awesome. How many people have been helped since the organization was founded?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Uh approximately five thousand. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

And how you think all their lives have been impacted greatly? Um has there been any like crazy cases where you've really had to help someone through and through, or um I'm not quite sure what you what you're asking me. So you start with the mammogram, and what if they have breast cancer?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Do you continue to help them or well that's that's uh after that's why we launched the uh financial uh assistance grant for further diagnosis or post-diagnostic care. Because after I got them through, and this has bothered me from day one since the day that dollars for mammograms uh was founded, is when I've gotten a person all the way through the testing that they have to have. And they say to me, but what do I do now? And there was nothing I could do for them. We didn't we didn't have the funds and stuff at the time, because you know what people don't do not realize, I didn't realize it myself even even when I first started this program, you know, you there's community clinics uh in uh Sarasota County and in Charlotte County, and what they do is uh is a great service to the community. But if you go to a community clinic, they can only accept you if you're 250 percent below poverty. By the fact that dollars for mammgrams does not take any state or federal aid, we do not come under that federal guideline that we can only service people 250 percent below poverty.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

So you can service anybody. Well, basically And let's say someone reaches out to dollars for mammograms and applies. What does that process look like?

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Well, we can't just service any anybody, but our financial guideline is um is extremely high. It's much higher than um uh it's uh it's at 400 percent above the poverty level. And what that does by uh by us doing that, that takes in what I've always called my working poor people. I I want to help those that are eligible to go to the clinic clinics, but I also want to help those that are out there every day working, uh doing their best, trying their best, but they cannot afford a decent insurance plan. Uh, you know, some of them uh have uh such a high high deductible. Uh we recently had an incident like that with the first medical uh assistant grant that we approved. We approved a young woman for uh under the post-diagnostic care part of the grant for 16 radiation treatments. What had happened is she had been serviced by one of the uh community clinics uh when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. And uh then along the line she got a better job where there was insurance. So she could no longer go to the clinic. Well, she could no longer go to the clinic, but the recommendation for her was 16 radiation treatments. Her deductible on her insurance, so this is where she would come in under our underinsured, was $3,000, which she had not met and could not afford to meet uh to meet to get this get this treatment. So we we approved her so she could get her uh we approved her under that uh post uh diagnostic care. So she uh and uh there's many situations, uh many situations like that, George.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Wow um so I know many local businesses support you. I know we we've supported you, this will be our third year, and for those of you who don't know, October 3rd will be our fundraiser for dollars for mammograms. So stay posted, keep following us on Instagram, Facebook, and we'll be posting more about that. How tremendously, how much of an impact have these local businesses helped you continue to thrive on dollars for mammograms?

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Well, without the support, and uh and you've seen it like when I've sent you thank you letters, it's a statement that I have uh sent to everybody that has supported us. Without the support of the businesses, anybody that donates, does fundraisers or just donates to us because uh the church groups, the rotary clubs, uh whoever it is, without the financial support, we could not have uh continued to support our mission, and as you know, our mission is no cost breast cancer detection, financial aid for a further diagnosis or post-diagnostic care, and scholarships for those studying radiology. We would never have been able to uh even expand out of the Anglewood area because um it was my own business. This was my idea, and my customer uh my customers were so glad after I was so sick like that with those three episodes within six months, that uh we did a fundraiser in our own restaurant and my uh more than once, and it was called My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was a progressive fundraiser where appetizers were at local uh local uh banks, uh the main dinner was at in our restaurant, and then um desserts were at other local businesses. And that's how we started uh we raised uh uh so that we could raise the money so we could expand our testing and our service area. But uh we were very gr uh uh grassroots. It uh it was one of those one of those ideas that spurred through my head, and when I was truthfully, when I was looking for the first imaging center, uh for the imaging center so we could set up the testing, the director of this particular imaging center asked me what I was putting into my pipe and smoking. What did I mean? No cost breast testing uh detection. So uh uh what kind of impact? Dollars for mammograms is here today because my drive, but because of all community sport, you know it it takes a village.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

It really does, and I see that. And um is there anything else that local businesses like myself can do to help you more or get the word out more? Is there anything else that you need support with?

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Well, and this is I I'm not a real technical person, so uh maybe this ask is uh is out of the uh way out of the scope of what a business could do for me. But uh, you know, if if they would put a link on their own website, two dollars for mammograms, uh and people could click on that and they could look at look and see that we have no cost uh uh breast uh cancer detection and that we have financial aid for further diagnosis or post-diagnostic care. Uh that could that could be that could be marvelous because George, this is where our problem is right now. Um since um COVID and people become became um scared, even though they knew they needed to be screened.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

They don't want to go to the doctor.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

They don't want to go, and a typical uh a typical example of it is our scholarship is named the Diana Lynn Puckett Scholarship. Diana was a young woman that lived here in Northport, but from the time she was like 16, 17 years old, uh she worked for shortstop printing after school in Anglewood. So at that time, she became one of the uh best volunteers for dollars for mammograms, that's early in the days of dollars for mammograms, because the printer, the owner of the shortstop printing, Gracia Schroeder, was a great supporter. She was right behind me with this bit uh with this idea of this no cost mammogram. And like she donated all of our first forms and stuff. And uh anyway, long story short, uh Diana uh when she Got to the age had to have mammograms. Naturally, she couldn't afford it on her own. She was a single mother with two children at this point. So Diana was always screened by us. The year of COVID, she was afraid to get her mammogram. So she didn't get her mammogram. The next year, when people were more at ease, she got her mammogram, and in one year she was in the fourth stage of cancer. Wow. And uh even though, as sick as she was, and I mean, and I I I took her all the way as far as I possibly could, so we got her diagnosed, and Diana stuck in my mind because we had a very extreme hard time help of uh getting her the help that she needed for her post-diagnostic care. Uh she did not, she did not survive. And she was in her early 50s and she passed away, and that that that has stuck in stuck in my mind that we couldn't we couldn't help her, and I know there was a lot of other Dianas out there, but in I watched her maybe about five weeks before I needed something, and uh four dollars for mammograms, uh and she did it for me because right up to the fact that when she got to the point she couldn't anymore, Diana was out there supporting this cause. So we named I named the mammogram in her memory.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Well, may she forever rest in peace. I'm sorry to hear that. And uh for those of you who are scared to get a go to a doctor, I think you should after hearing all of that. Um what are your biggest goals for the next five years?

SPEAKER_01 24:13

The biggest goals for the next five years is to really it's it's we uh at this particular point it's really really hard to say because if we can get this financial this financial assistant grant going, that we can take people and uh and help them and save lives. And uh even if we uh can't save their lives, give them the best life possible and the opportunity for the best care possible. And uh I think that is going to take a long time to get it to this point, but I want to touch on something uh you just said uh encouraged people to get tested. But there's there's uh a whole group of people, and I just had to be called uh had to run these reports the other day. Our application process is very, very simple for testing. It's a one-page application, and basically, George, you've seen it, basically it's their name, their contact, uh uh they have to prove their residency, and we need to know uh uh their financial situation to be because we cannot uh approve testing for anybody out of our financial guideline, and we discuss that it's that it's very high. So they go through this process, they get uh get approved, and then they never go get tested. And and that that that that is I don't know if it's fear.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

It might be.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

I think it is is fear. And one of the one of uh one of the uh reasons why we've uh made the uh both of our applications, the financial assistant grant and our testing grant, they're both just one-page things with very limited guidelines. You've seen them. Because we don't want people to be overwhelmed. We uh don't want them, we it's hard for people to ask for help because people are proud. We're all proud people, we all have you know that little thing within us. So we wanted to make it as simple and as painless as possible because we're here to offer help for today and hope for tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

I understand. And other than the website, do you guys have like a Facebook page, Instagram?

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Oh all we we have a uh there's a dollars for Bamogram's Facebook page. George, you you've been up on it with your decorated bra on and stuff. Every time there is uh every time there is even an event, I just insert a picture of me with the bra on. Yeah, uh I uh every uh every time there is an event or anything like that, we I I push it on the Facebook page because you know people look at social uh media. I don't only push it on the Facebook page, but I also uh push it uh on my own personal page. And so consequently it and I tag my friends and I hope to God they uh I I just did one yesterday because we were at the Pontagorda uh YMCA. They graciously gave us a spot there where we could uh make people aware of our our our mission. And it's up on the Facebook page, believe me. It went up immediately the pictures. Uh we've done everything we possibly can. It's in the newspaper, it's been in new uh it it it it it's it's it's just all all over. But right now, we are not doing the numbers that we uh since COVID that we uh really want to do. Uh I don't know what else at this point we can do to make people aware of our service. Uh I guess I just have to continue. Uh just keep pushing.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

And well, how much more money do you need?

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Well, what we need more now, and this is going to sound we we definitely need to always continue funding funding. But what we really need now is to get the people to take advantage of the services we offer. For some reason, since COVID and people got frightened, and at first I thought it was just dollars for mammograms, but uh I know what that that it is, and uh uh Dr. Raymond James uh served on our our on our board uh briefly, but then with the demands he just just can continue. And this is right when this was was starting, and he said to me, Rita, it's all over. He says, uh I can tell you uh as as a doctor, people are not getting tested, they're they're uh not uh he says they're just they're he says they're just plain scared. And I have no idea when they're going to get over this. Uh yes, we need the funds, yes, we need your your fundraiser and stuff, but we also need the people to take advantage of the help that they're being uh being offered. I um I feel bad when um people say to me, um my mother uh died because she uh didn't know there was a service such as yours, or uh or when they finally come. You know, you can survive the four stage of breast cancer because I've had two board members that have and I know other people. But you know, you're more uh more sick at the fourth stage. If you're caught, caught caught early, uh, you know, your survival is greater. That is one of the reasons why the survival rate for breast cancer is less for man. Um uh uh more men die from breast cancer because by the time they realize they have a problem, they're in usually the third or the fourth stage, and uh it is very, you know, it's much harder and much more aggressive to treat at that time. So early attack detections uh do save lives. I mean uh and I'm a typical example of it because I would have had breast cancer if I hadn't been getting mammograms just like uh my mother uh had breast cancer.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Well, I really admire what you do, and I admire how much people you help out there, and um I'm looking forward to our fundraiser this year, and I got a lot of new ideas to make more money for you guys.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

So um if you want to talk to me about it anytime and my help in any way, George, you know I'll let you know. And you know why I'll come in a crazy c uh costume I do every year.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

I know.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

And I think I'll put you in one too.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

I know you will, trust me, I know. We'll see you on October 3rd. Thank you for coming to this podcast today. Uh is there any last message you want to say to the camera or to the people?

SPEAKER_01 32:25

I want everybody out there to realize we're offering you help for today, hope for tomorrow, and please take uh take advantage of our service. Uh we uh we are there to help you.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Well, thank you, Rita, and I really admire what you do. And if you guys are watching this video, please come out October 3rd to Dubs Barbecue. We'll have a cornhole tournament. We'll have a bunch of businesses set up outside and a bunch of specials. 10% of our proceeds will go to dollars for mammograms, plus all the raffles and all the proceeds that the businesses donate will be going straight to dollars for mammograms. If you like this video, please like, comment, and subscribe. Thank you.