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It’ll be hard to miss the new mobile mammography unit hitting Saskatchewan’s highways next week.
The massive trailer is painted in varying shades of bright and soft pink, with “breast screening” on the side in more than foot-tall letters. It’s the second such unit the province is putting on the roads, offering mammography appointments to women in rural and northern Saskatchewan communities.
The new trailers are the largest height, length and weight allowed on Saskatchewan’s roads and are significantly larger than the bus which had served as the province’s mobile unit for 24 years.
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Kristin Frombach, the SHA’s manager of breast imaging, gave tours of the new trailer on Wednesday.
She said the new unit has a private area for staff to take breaks, a reception area, waiting area, large change rooms and a separate mammography suite.
“We took what the techs’ feedback was, and we took what our clients’ feedback was, and we tried to make the best unit that we could with the space that we had,” explained Frombach.
She called the trailer a “massive improvement” on the old bus, with more space, a full fire suppression system and security system, and everything inside top of the line and heavy duty so it won’t break.
Expanding capacity
Health Minister, Jeremy Cockrill, was on hand for the unveiling and said the second unit is important to expand the availability of appointments in rural areas – he said not only will each community see a visit annually now, but the units are able to maximize the number of appointments, with 50-54 women every day.
“You think about what that does in terms of improving access for women in rural Saskatchewan, massive impact,” Cockrill said.
He emphasized it’s important to ensure women have that level of care as close to home as possible, making it easier to get that screening.
The Saskatchewan Cancer Agency’s director of population health, David Tran, said improving capacity is important.
“It’s just increasing capacity and access, which will translate to more participation in the programs, and also to … better outcomes for women in the province,” he explained.
With more screening, he said you can catch cancers earlier.
“People who go for regular screening, 75 per cent of cancers detected are at an earlier stage, meaning better treatment options, better health outcomes, better survival,” Tran said.
He noted it’s particularly important now that the province is lowering the age for regular breast screenings – it’s currently at 43 and will be lowered to 40 as of July.
(L to R) David Tran, director of population health at the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, Rural and Remote Health Minister Lori Carr, Nora Yeates, CEO of the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan, Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill, Richard Dagenais, Medical Imaging Leader with the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
The trailer was paid for through a donation campaign run by the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan –$2 million for the first trailer and $2.2 million for the second. The provincial government is paying for the operation of the two units, to the tune of $475,000 a year.
While the provincial government touted this move bringing screening closer to home for women in the province, it also extended a program in March to send Saskatchewan women to Calgary to undergo breast cancer diagnostic procedures.
