A program that offers life-saving mammograms for women will
be a part of this year’s HMG Expo. For the third consecutive year, women who
qualify can have screening mammogram s performed on site – in the St. Bernards Mobile
Women’s Health Unit – while attending the HMG Health and Fitness Expo on
Saturday, April 21.
“We are especially pleased to be able to offer this service
again for the 2012 Expo,” says Penny Jones, manager of women’s services at the
St. Bernards Imaging Center.
Women who are interested in determining whether they qualify
for the free mammograms should report to the Pink Zone, a specially designated
area on the lower level of the Convocation Center. Funding for the program is
being provided by grants from the Arkansas Cancer Coalition.
To qualify, a woman must meet the following criteria:
·
Female 40 years of age or older
·
No health insurance coverage
·
No current breast problems (lumps, discharge,
etc.)
·
No personal history of breast cancer
·
Must not have had a mammogram in the last 365
days.
Women who qualify will have clinical breast exams performed
free of charge by physicians from OB-GYN Associates on site in a private exam
area away from Expo booths and activities followed by a screening mammogram on
St. Bernards Mobile Women’s Health Unit.
Should a physician find an abnormality during a breast exam,
the woman will be scheduled for a diagnostic mammogram rather than a screening
mammogram. Those are not performed on the St. Bernards mobile unit … but are
scheduled at the St. Bernards Imaging Center. Staff will be on hand to assist
with any appointments that are necessary.
This follow-up testing is made possible by grant funding from the
Arkansas Affiliate Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
“Women do not need to pre-register,” Jones points out. “They
simply can come to the Pink Zone beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday to see if they
qualify. Then qualifying patients will be screened on a first-come,
first-served basis.”
Mammograms will be performed using digital mammography
equipment aboard the 36-foot RV-type St. Bernards Mobile Women’s Health Unit.
The van will be in the parking lot on the east side of the Convocation Center
between the red and green entrances.
In addition to offering screening mammograms, St. Bernards
personnel will be on hand to direct people to an educational booth where breast
health information will be available.
“We want to give women the tools necessary to find and fight
breast cancer in its earliest stages when it is the most treatable,” says Marti
Whitehead, RN, nurse educator for St. Bernards mobile Women’s Health Unit.
“We are fortunate to have strong partners in the fight
against breast cancer such as our HMG physicians, the Arkansas Cancer Coalition
and the Arkansas Affiliate of Susan G Komen for the Cure.”
HMG Health & Fitness Expo hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 21, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 22.
Screening mammograms will be available only on Saturday, April
2.
Expo is sponsored by
member physicians of HMG as a way showcase health and fitness services and
programs available locally. It is open to the interested public free of charge.