Starting Saturday, a semi-truck pulling a 53-foot-long trailer will park itself in the town of Morinville for three days to help in the fight against breast cancer.
Inside the trailer is a mobile mammography unit, as well as a reception area and change rooms, all designed to bring mammograms to women who live in remote areas and might have to travel long distances to get screened.
“We’re trying to make sure all women, regardless of where they live, have access to the most recent technology and screening mammograms. If women have regular mammograms, we decrease mortality rates,” said Joan Hauber, manager for Screen Test, the program of Alberta Health Services that runs the mobile unit.
This isn’t the first year that the unit has come to Morinville, but it is the first year the trailer, known simply as Unit One, will roll into town with a digital mammography unit, instead of the old one that used film. The program started approximately 10 years ago under the arm of the former Capital Health Region. One of its first locations was Morinville.
“Once we go there, we try to keep going there,” Hauber said. “When we started working in the general area, we decided Morinville would be a good place to set up because of the population and the women outside Morinville that might be in the region.”
Distance is often a significant factor as to why women living in rural communities do not get mammograms, Hauber said. Most of the clinics are located in Calgary and Edmonton. Screen Test has two portable units that travel across the province non-stop, getting as many women who should have a mammogram taken care of. In the course of a year they hold about 103 clinics.
“We do let them take a week off for Christmas,” Hauber joked.
Screen Test recommends that women aged 50 to 69 get a mammogram every two years. Women under 40 should have periodic health exams and get to know their breasts, while women between the ages of 40 to 49 should talk to their doctor about their risk of developing breast cancer and the benefits of screening mammograms.
The Screen Test mobile unit will be in Morinville on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. While walk-ins can be accommodated, Hauber says women should call 1-800-667-0604 to book an appointment during one of those three days.
“I’d encourage women to take advantage of the service,” said Hauber. “It’s very important.”
