UAMS Receives Komen Funding for Mobile Mammography Unit

By Nate Hinkel

 Mike Gavigan, Susan G. Komen for the Cure grants chairman, presents funding in support of the UAMS MammoVan to Heather Buie, Shannon Strickland and Stephanie McLean. 

Mike Gavigan, Susan G. Komen for the Cure grants chairman, presents funding in support of the UAMS MammoVan to Heather Buie, Shannon Strickland and Stephanie McLean.

The UAMS MammoVan mobile mammography unit was recently awarded $75,740 by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Arkansas Affiliate to continue its service to women across the state. The MammoVan regularly travels to 26 Arkansas counties that lack FDA-approved mammography facilities.

Since it began operation in early 2010, the MammoVan has screened more than 4,000 women and diagnosed 23 cancers.

“About 40 percent of the women we serve are uninsured. That’s why funding such as this grant is so important. It helps ensure that we are able to continue providing mammograms to women who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get this service in their community,” said Kim Enoch, MammoVan program manager.

The three-room, handicap-accessible unit is outfitted with the most advanced digital mammography equipment and is staffed by a certified mammography technologist and a technical assistant.

Patients receive their test results within one to two weeks. Results also will be sent to each patient’s primary care physician. If the mammogram shows a potential abnormality, the patient is referred for follow-up to the appropriate services.

Co-directors for the MammoVan are Robert Fincher, M.D., director of breast imaging and medical director of the UAMS Breast Center, and Ronda Henry-Tillman, professor of medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine and practice director of the Women’s Cancer Clinic at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.