After the success of two events, UC Health’s Mobile Mammography program has scheduled quarterly events for 2020 to fill the health gap in Hillsboro, Mobile Mammography Program Manager Morgan Miller told The Times-Gazette.
“We’re just very excited about it,” Miller said. “Even my scheduler is excited about it.”
After all the appointments for UC Health’s first mammography event in Hillsboro, which was held on Sept. 9, filled, Miller scheduled a second event for Nov. 13. But when all the appointments for the second event filled as well, Miller said she decided to schedule a mammography event in Hillsboro every quarter.
“If we go somewhere at least two times, and it fills both times, we start to think, ‘OK, this isn’t a normal one-time, two-time mammography visit. The second date is more than just an overflow day. There’s a lot of people here we don’t want to miss,’” Miller said. “That’s when we start scheduling quarterly or monthly visits. I didn’t want Hillsboro to lose its momentum. I didn’t want to schedule events monthly and have them not fill. I want women to have a mammogram in every season. It’s a flexibility to be able to have their mammograms around the same time, but close to home.”
UC Health’s Mobile Mammography program offers funding for those without insurance, so all women who get their mammograms done at Mobile Mammography events rarely have to pay anything at all, Miller said. In a previous article, The Times-Gazette reported that three women without insurance had gotten their mammograms at the Sept. 9 event. Miller told The Times-Gazette that five women without insurance will get their mammograms at the Nov. 13 event.
“When we do pay for their mammograms, we’re paying for them to get 3D mammograms, which is the latest digital technology, so these women are getting exceptional care,” Miller said. “The thing that I like about Hillsboro is that these women really do take advantage of the resources available to them. They trust us. In return, I think we have to be flexible for them and make sure that they have an exceptional experience every time.”
Though 40 is the standard age to start getting an annual mammogram, UC Health will see people as young as 35, Miller said, but no one is ever too old for a mammogram.
“We just diagnosed a 72-year-old. Our doctors recommend that you get a mammogram every year until the day that you die,” Miller said. “Cancer doesn’t discriminate. That’s why we take care of the whole woman because anybody can get breast cancer.”
Miller said though one woman from the Sept. 9 event needed additional imaging, she decided to go to a different hospital for the followup.
”If someone decides they want to follow up closer to home, we’ll send those images to that hospital,” Miller said. “For us, you don’t have to get your care here. We want you to get your care here, but it’s really about the woman taking care of themselves. Our slogan is ‘take care of you.’ That doesn’t mean ‘take care of you at UC Health.’”
Between the first two events, UC Health’s Mobile Mammography program has allowed 26 women to get their mammograms without leaving their communities, and Miller said that if the quarterly events continue to fill as the last two events have, then she’ll consider scheduling monthly events.
“Hillsboro is a very unique situation. We go to all of these different cities, and I’ve never seen this happen,” Miller said. “When you work in mammography, you kind of feel like you make a difference, but in Hillsboro, we know we’re making a difference. Half the time, when we go out, we’re paying for almost half the women to get their mammograms. Some of these women haven’t had a mammogram in five years. Some women are in their 40s and have never had a mammogram before. There’s something so unique and so precious about this opportunity. This is what community outreach is all about.”
All the mammography events will be held at 108 Gov. Trimble Pl. in Hillsboro. Miller told The Times-Gazette that people who live outside Hillsboro are also welcome to schedule mammograms with the Mobile Mammography unit. Patients must register before the event. To schedule an appointment for any of the 2020 events, call 513-584-7465.
Following is the Mobile Mammography schedule for 2020:
Jan. 14 — 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
April 14— 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
July 14— 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Oct. 13— 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Reach McKenzie Caldwell at 937-402-2570.
