When life gets busy, and people are focused on what’s happening in front of them, they can forget to schedule needed medical appointments. For women, this includes sometimes skipping their annual mammogram.
To help relieve this problem, St. James Healthcare, part of Intermountain Health, recently launched a mobile mammography program. The program makes it faster and more convenient for women in southwest Montana to have a screening mammogram, the key to lifesaving early detection of breast cancer.
“We understand women in our community get busy taking care of day-to-day life and we don’t want them to go without this vital screening,” said Jerri Doyle, Director of the St. James Cancer Center. “We want women to be healthy so they can be there for the people they care about and those who rely on them.”
The new mobile mammography coach provides 3D mammography imaging technology, which finds invasive cancers 40% more frequently than a traditional 2D mammogram. Research also shows that 3D mammography reduces the number of instances women are called back for expensive and unnecessary testing due to false alarms, which is significant to women in rural, remote communities.
In the United States, one in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Survival rates have increased dramatically in recent decades thanks to an increase in annual screenings.
To schedule a screening, call 406.400.9313, or visit sjh-mt.org/mammography