Bellin Health held a dedication and ribbon cutting for its new mobile mammography vehicle Friday at the health system’s Green Bay campus.
The mobile mammography unit, a large pink vehicle that resembles an RV, houses high-tech digital mammography equipment, along with bone densitometry equipment used to detect osteoporosis. The vehicle is staffed by two mammography technologists and a bone densitometry technologist.
Oconto is one of the initial stops for the mobile mammography unit.
“Northeast Wisconsin has a high incidence of breast cancer, when compared to other parts of the country,” said Jody Wilmet, vice president of Oncology and Diagnostic Services. “Part of the reason for this is that women in rural areas are screened less frequently and, therefore, are diagnosed at advanced stages of breast cancer.
“That is why Bellin is bringing mammography to them. The mobile mammography unit allows Bellin to travel to underserved areas throughout the region in an effort to make mammograms more accessible and improve rates of early detection of breast cancer.”
Bellin plans to perform more than 4,600 mammograms annually with the mobile unit. Individuals screened will be Bellin patients who schedule the exam with the local Bellin clinic. The goal is to have a mammogram in conjunction with an annual physical breast exam performed by a patient’s physician at that clinic location.
Once a mammogram is completed, images will be relayed from the vehicle to a radiologist based at Bellin Hospital in Green Bay for interpretation. A breast health nurse will contact the patient to inform her of the results, and the results will also be available for the patient’s physician to view in Bellin’s electronic medical records system.
“The goal is to bring the same level of technology and quality service provided at Bellin’s Green Bay facilities to the rural communities we serve,” Wilmet said.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 200,000 American women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. Yet, due in part to improved screenings and treatment, the breast cancer death rate in this country decreased by 34 percent from 1990 through 2010.
Contributors to the mobile mammography unit include Associated Bank, Julie-Ann Kress, Jack and Inky Meng, and Diane Gerhard, owner of Lady Savannah, Homestead Decor and Grapevine Cafe.
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