COLUMBUS: A statewide project to encourage Amish and Mennonite women to undergo regular breast exams is working to overcome cultural and transportation issues to reduce the high number of deaths from breast cancer in the two populations.

Researcher Melissa Thomas founded Project Hoffnung after discovering that health screenings for Amish and Mennonite women in rural Ohio weren't widely accessible, and that too many didn't take advantage of mobile medical screening units.

Contrary to widely held beliefs, Thomas also found that Amish women were interested in learning more about breast cancer.

''We were told from health care professionals, 'They don't believe in technology. They don't believe in medical care. Why waste your time?''' Thomas said.

But the project, whose name comes from the German word for hope, has provided services, including mammograms, to more than 1,500 women over the last decade and has also worked to educate Amish and Mennonite women on the importance of regular breast self-exams, she said.

Amish will ride in cars, but they won't personally drive anything that requires an engine, and it can be expensive to pay for someone to drive to and from a hospital.

Also, many health care agencies have toll-free numbers, but in some Amish and Mennonite communities, the nearest phone is a few miles down the road, said Thomas, who manages OhioHealth's federal and foundation-funded research programs.

Thomas has worked to link local agencies with Amish women, and Project Hoffnung has also received more than $500,000 in grants that have gone toward the costs of mammograms, transportation and follow-up care.

Ella Miller, who works as the local coordinator in Holmes County for Project Hoffnung, said her experience with breast cancer would probably have been different if the project existed in 1989.

Like many Amish women, Miller was not in the practice of doing regular breast self-exams. She was also reluctant to have regular mammograms.

''It's not that they don't want the information, but basically they think, 'I feel OK, what's the use?''' said Miller of her fellow Amish. '''It's not necessary.'''

Miller said she suspected she had a problem only when she discovered that one of her nipples was inverted. She underwent a complete mastectomy within weeks of her diagnosis and is now cancer-free.

Project Hoffnung soon will expand its Amish and Mennonite Breast Health Project to Geauga and Wayne counties in northeast Ohio because it received a $50,442 grant from the northeast Ohio affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.