DANVILLE, Pa. — When women turn 40, doctors say it's important to start getting mammograms to screen for breast cancer. But depending on where you live, you may have to drive quite a bit to have one. Geisinger's mobile mammogram bus is an opportunity to have a mammogram come to you.
"You only have to come up a few steps to walk into the bus. You check in and you just walk back and have your mammogram. It's a few minutes and it's very easy to have it done in a bus," Geisinger Radiology Team Lead Carla Kerstetter said.
The mobile mammogram bus uses the same equipment as Geisinger's hospitals. Technicians say 3D mammography is essential because it helps with dense breast tissue.
"Dense tissue is hard for a radiologist to differentiate problems in the mammogram, so the 3D actually takes an image every millimeter through the breast tissue for the to look for abnormalities," Kerstetter said.
"The machine produces the same images as if you were at one of the hospital sites," Geisinger Radiology Technologist Carol Hankinson said.
Geisinger's mobile mammogram bus started coming to the Hazleton area in July. Now, once a month, it is parked outside Community Care Hazleton.
"A lot of our Geisinger patients who come to the Hazleton clinic can come right to the bus. They don't have to travel outside of the area. It gives them the incentive to get their mammogram done," Hankinson said.
For more information or to schedule your mammogram, CLICK HERE.
