Boone Health launches breast cancer clinic with bra and prosthetic boutique
Keriana Gamboa
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A space for Mid-Missouri women to get specialty treatment for breast cancer is now available to them with a unique store inside.
Boone Health Breast Care’s new clinic, which is set to fully open early next year, will provide services including breast cancer screenings, diagnostic imaging, breast-conserving surgeries, mastectomies with or without nipple preservation, ultrasound-guided biopsies, management of benign breast conditions and advanced oncoplastic surgical procedures, which combine cosmetic surgery with tumor removal.
The clinic is staffed by a specialized team dedicated to breast health, designed to enhance access to specialized care for patients across Mid-Missouri, Boone Health says.
Located in the hospital’s Broadway Medical Plaza 2, Suite 200, the newly constructed clinic includes nine exam rooms, one procedure room and space to accommodate up to five practitioners. The expanded facility is designed to increase patient capacity and support specialized care in a setting focused on breast health.
Through a partnership with the Boone Foundation and support from foundation grant donors, the clinic has begun the process of opening a bra and prosthetic shop on-site. Monica Collins, executive director of the Boone Hospital Foundation, said the estimated start-up cost for opening the shop was between $20,000 and $30,000.
No dedicated shop for women’s prosthetic and bra fittings existed in the area before. The last available store serving women’s needs closed in 2020.
“This particular shop allows women not just here at Boone but across the region the opportunity to come here and get what they need to continue their healing journey,” Collins said.
One of the speakers at the event was Mindy Fuller, a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed last year in August. She said there is a need for specialty clinics and shops available to women with breast cancer in the Mid-Missouri region.
“I had my mammogram early in the afternoon on Friday, and I was the 11th person that day to be diagnosed. And so if that just doesn’t scream that there is such a need for breast health care here in Mid-Missouri,” Fuller said.
According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the U.S. In 2025, about 317,000 women are expected to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and another 59,000 with non-invasive breast cancer.
Breast cancer has the fourth highest incidence and mortality rate among cancers in Missouri. Aside from skin cancer, it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Missouri women.
According to a 2017–2021 report from the CDC, breast cancer rates are rising overall in Missouri. However, in Mid-Missouri counties Boone, Cooper, Cole and Callaway, rates remained stable.
Missouri averages about 5,180 new breast cancer cases each year, making it one of the states with the highest totals.
Boone County ranks eighth in the state for breast cancer cases.
Between 2017 and 2021, Missouri reported an average of 135 breast cancer cases per 100,000 people each year, according to the CDC.
The Mammograms Across Missouri report shows that from 2014 to 2018, Missouri ranked 18th in the nation for breast cancer incidence. Rates of diagnosis are on the rise across the state, with the increase most notable among women under the age of 65.
Boone Health says it’s responding to the growing need as breast cancer rates continue to rise.