WakeMed provides life-saving breast cancer screenings for women at no cost

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close WakeMed is working to provide life-saving screenings to women in the community.

WakeMed is offering no-cost 3D mammograms to uninsured women over the age of 40 who have not had a mammogram in the last 12 months.

It's a collaborative effort between WakeMed, Siemens Healthineers, and the Raleigh Chapter of The Links, a not-for-profit corporation.

Tonia Richburg was one of the first patients to visit the Mammography Bus on Monday.

She said the mobile mammography community event has been impactful.

"Early detection is the best detection. This way you will know for sure. So cancer does not only come in October, so a person shouldn't wait just till October to come get a breast examination. I think they should get themselves checked regularly. " she said.

Last year 400 women were screened as a part of this effort. For some ladies, this was their first mammogram.

That was the case for Richburg. Her first mammogram was three years ago when she was 54 years old. It was the first time she participated in the community mammography event.

"Cancer runs throughout my family and I know a lot of people that have had breast cancer, and my mom died from ovarian cancer, so I just wanted to come in and be checked every year. I'm grateful for WakeMed ,the Breast Cancer Society and Links and Pink."

Through research, experts have found that cancer disproportionately affects the underserved, underinsured and uninsured.

Dr. Annie Pugh, physician and program director of Transitional Health at WakeMed's Community Population Health program, explained how they are working to eliminate barriers and getting women screened early.

"A lot of our women with no insurance, they really have no experience with getting routine medical care. And so it was a great opportunity for them to experience this mammogram screening, which is going to be really important for the rest of their lives. ," said Dr. Pugh.

"We screened almost 400 women last year through this event. I think we've seen almost 900 women in the last three years.

any woman, 40 years and above really should come through mammogram screening really to decrease the risk of highly invasive metastatic breast cancer ," she continued.

The mobile mammography bus is set up at WakeMed's Raleigh Medical Park on Sunnybrook Road.

It opened Monday October 26 and will continue through November 6th. A complete breakdown of hours is below:

• Monday, October 27 - Thursday, October 30 (11 a.m. to 7 p.m.)
• Friday, October 31 - Saturday, November 1 (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
• Monday, November 3 - Thursday, November 6 (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.)