THUNDER BAY – There’s a mammogram marathon taking place on Friday in the Superstore parking lot.
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre’s mobile screening coach has set up shop in the city for the day, with hopes of encouraging more women to be checked out for signs of breast cancer, a disease that strikes one in eight Canadian women.
Julia Bailey, the mobile coach lead, said the numbers need to come up in Northwestern Ontario. Just 62 per cent of women in the region have had a mammogram in the past 2.5 years, a number they’d like to see jump to at least 70 per cent going forward.
Early signs are good, Bailey said, with 18 patients having an exam done in the first few hours of operation on Friday.
“We were definitely hoping that it would be this busy, but I can’t say that we knew for sure. We’re never 100 per cent positive how a day will turn out when we run an event like this,” Bailey said, adding the coach will be on site until 8 p.m.
“We’re incredibly happy so far.
Bailey can’t stress how important it is for women to take preventative action when it comes to breast cancer. Provincial guidelines state women between 50 and 74 should have a mammogram every two years, assuming they are at an average risk for breast cancer.
Younger women, with higher risk factors, can also be checked, usually on the recommendation of their primary-care physician.
“It’s important to get screened because catching a cancer early means we have much better treatment options and the outcome is typically better,” Bailey said.
“The whole point is early detection.”
Five of six Ontario Breast Screening Program sites are taking part in this year’s so-called Mammothon.
In addition to the screening coach, booked and walk-in appointments are being held at Thunder Bay Diagnostics. Booked appointments only will be held at the Linda Buchan Centre.
Lake of the Woods Hospital in Kenora and Sioux Lookout’s Meno Ya Win Health Centre are also taking part and are open until 8 p.m. on Friday.
