Digital Mammography Unit to visit Xat'sull First Nation

Courtesy of the BC Cancer Agency:

Today, two new BC Cancer Agency digital mammography vehicles were launched and blessed during a ceremony at the Musqueam First Nation in Vancouver.
These large, comfortable coaches feature the latest technology and provide access to breast cancer screening for BC women in remote and rural communities.

Currently the BC Cancer Agency’s Mobile Mammography program visits 120 remote and rural communities annually, including more than 40 Indigenous communities. The ceremonial blessing, performed by a Musqueam Elder, honours these communities to increase acceptance of the coaches and remove barriers to breast cancer screening.

The blessing was witnessed by leaders from the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, the Métis Nation BC, Chief Wayne Sparrow of the Musqueam First Nation, Dr. Moira Stilwell, MLA Vancouver-Langara and Dr. Malcolm Moore, BC Cancer Agency president.

After the blessing, the new digital mammography vehicles will begin providing mammograms for women on site at the Musqueam First Nation. The coaches will then visit communities across the province from Maple Ridge to Merritt, and Osoyoos to the Soda Creek First Nation. These new vehicles join a third coach, which was launched in February 2015. That coach is currently serving communities on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.

The BC Cancer Agency mobile mammography service is the first of its kind in Canada to use wireless cellular data to send the images through a secure VPN tunnel from the mobile unit to the reading centre, ensuring greater efficiency of the service.

The purchase of the two new mobile mammography vehicles was made possible by Ministry of Health capital funding and sponsorship funding support by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and Shoppers Drug Mart at a total cost of $1,808,000.

Screening mammograms are available for women 40 years of age and older. Women are encouraged to discuss the benefits and limitations of mammography with their doctor. If they choose to have a mammogram, it will be available every two years and a doctor’s referral is not needed.

Eligible women can use the clinic locator at www.screeningbc.ca/breast to either find a year-round fixed location near them, or view the schedule for the mobile mammography service in their area. For remote communities that the mobile coaches are unable to access, assisted travel support is provided for eligible women in the community to attend either the nearest fixed centre or mobile stop.

Quick facts:

• Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in Canadian women.
• In 2015, an estimated 3,400 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in British Columbia, and approximately 610 will die from the disease.
• Mammograms help find cancer in its earliest stages when there are more treatment options and a better chance for successful treatment. B.C. has some of the best survival outcomes for those women who do get breast cancer.
• Research has shown a 25 per cent reduction in deaths from breast cancer among women who are screened through the Screening Mammography program.
• Only half of eligible B.C. women are taking advantage of this important free service regularly.
• The BC Cancer Agency’s Screening Mammography program, established in 1988, was the first organized population-based screening program in Canada for the early detection of breast cancer.
• The provincial program has 37 fixed screening mammography centres throughout the province, and three mobile screening units that serve more than 120 rural and remote communities in British Columbia.
• The mobile units perform about 10 per cent of the total number of screening mammograms in British Columbia. Overall participation in the screening program by Indigenous women over the past three years has increased by nine per cent, and is currently at 57 per cent.
• In 2014, 259,341 screening mammograms were performed in B.C., and 1,404 breast cancers reported (5.4 per 1,000 exams)

Dr. Malcolm Moore, president, BC Cancer Agency stated:

“The BC Cancer Agency has always been a leader in breast cancer screening, and with the launch of these two new vehicles I’m hopeful that we can continue to improve our breast cancer screening rates. BC has always led the way in breast cancer screening, first by launching the screening mammography program in 1988, and again today with these new digital mammography vehicles. We’re the first in Canada to use wireless technology to ensure faster, more efficient results.”