3D mobile mammography van takes screenings on the road

YOUNGSTOWN

The Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center has gone mobile to bring life-saving measures to women throughout Northeast Ohio.

The mobile mammography van, which debuted in September 2016 and is the only mobile 3D unit in Northeast Ohio, provides state-of-the-art mammography screenings with the same high standards of care offered at the Joanie Abdu Center in downtown Youngstown.

“In its first four weeks of service, the van detected four cases of breast cancers,” said Julie Paine, Joanie Abdu Center community health educator.

Like at the Center, the mobile unit is designed to be warm and welcoming. It’s decorated with a woman in mind and what would ease her fears and anxieties going into a mammogram – soothing music, toned-down lighting, fluffy robes, friendly staff, a coffee and tea bar; a truly spa-like setting.

The van also affords Joanie’s Promise to its patients, a grant-funded program that covers the costs of mammograms and other support services for those without the means to pay.

Further, being on wheels, it removes one more potential barrier for some women: access to reliable transportation.

“With the mobile unit and Joanie’s Promise, there isn’t a reason why women should not be getting a mammogram today,” Paine said.

Four days each week, the “mammovan” travels primarily throughout Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties visiting various community sites, along with occasional visits from Cleveland to Ashtabula. It services women regardless if they’re in the Mercy Health system or not. Results can be sent to any physician of the patient’s choosing.

The van also schedules stops at the offices of Prima Health and Mercy Health primary-care physicians in the Mahoning Valley, allowing women to get their mammograms done in combination with a regular doctor’s appointment.

“We’re bringing the mobile unit right to the backyard of our community,” Paine said. “And it’s for everybody, not just the lower-income.”

With the technology on board, the entire mammogram process from completing paperwork to saying goodbye takes just 15 minutes, and the van can perform 20-30 mammograms per day.

If a lump is found during the basic screening, patients are immediately referred to the Joanie Abdu Center for a diagnostic mammogram, which can include an ultrasound, biopsy and chest x-ray. There, they’re given the results of their tests before they leave the facility.

“Any abnormal findings from the screening mammograms performed on the van are followed by our nurse navigators at the Center,” Paine said. “This allows us to explain the abnormality and next steps in care. This, in turn, decreases the anxiety for someone who needs additional images.”

If not for private donations, corporate partners, funding from the Mercy Health Foundation and community support at events like Panerathon, the mammovan would not be able to provide these life-saving screenings, Paine said.

“We’re very honored to see first-hand what the community has allowed us to build; it’s already saved lots of lives,” Paine said. “This is community-built, community-funded and services the community in need.”

Along with the 3D mammography, the van offers radiation-free bone density screenings, which help determine a woman’s risk for osteoporosis.

For more information on the Joanie Abdu Center or to view the schedule for the mobile mammography van, visit mercy.com or call 330-480-2555.