ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The Susan G. Komen Foundation More than Pink Walk is scheduled for Saturday, June 8, in Tower Grove Park. There’s still time to register for the event and donate to this organization that is on the move in and around St. Louis County.
On a beautiful spring day in February, a large pink and blue recreational vehicle pulled into the parking lot of the Missouri Baptist Medical Center campus, located near interstates 270 and 64. It’s the end of another typical week.
A sign on the vehicle read “BJC HealthCare Mobile Mammography.”
Theresa Taylor is outreach coordinator for the Breast Health Center at Missouri Baptist Medical Center.
“We take our mammography van all the way west,” said Taylor. “Outside of Columbia, Missouri. We go to Audrain County, north we cover up to Troy, south we go to Perry County, St. Genevieve, and to Fredericktown in Madison County.”
Missouri Baptist Mammography Coordinator Sherry Cotter leads us on a walking tour of the medical facilities, inside the R.V.
“I'm going to turn the machine around,” said Cotter. She pushes a button on the wall and you can hear electronic equipment moving examination equipment into place, automatically.
As long as the mobile mammography vehicle is here, it doesn’t matter where “here” is.
Taylor makes the point.
“We cover a lot of area, really,” she said. “Jefferson County, St. Francois County, Washington County, we're pretty visible in those areas. People there know the pink van. They recognize it when we come rolling into town. People know they can come and get mammograms, and we partner with a lot of clinics and small rural health centers and those areas.”
Cotter demonstrates the medical exam equipment used in a mammography.
“We want to make sure we get adequate compression because that's going to help look through those tissue layers better,” she said. “So, this will come down on the breast.”
She presses another button and a clear plastic mechanism drops, gently, a couple inches.
“If this were an actual exam, the patient would feel pressure, but it should not be painful,” said Cotter. “You might be a little bit uncomfortable for a few seconds. The machine will automatically release off of you once the exposure is complete.
This mobile mammography vehicle from Missouri Baptist Medical Center helps the Susan G. Komen Foundation provide breast exams for about 3,000 people a year.
“This vehicle only has about about 60,000 miles,” said Taylor.
Only?
“Sherry would know that,” said Taylor, laughing.
Cotter continues with her demonstration of a breast exam.
“Then we go to the next position, which is usually an angled view,” said Cotter. “We always want to see it from two different degrees. We’re going to want to see the breast tissue from a top plane, and a side view.”
Cotter operates the mammography equipment and the machine it’s located in. She drives the R.V. to the remote Missouri locations.
“I just talk with the patient and reassure them,” she said. “I started getting mammograms at an early age, because my mom passed away due to breast cancer. I just tell them it feels like a little pressure. It’s not very long. You’re only in there for a few seconds, each time. I make sure we work together to get a good image, which is the most important thing.”
For more information about breast cancer support, resources or financial assistance, connect with a culturally-responsive navigator at 1-877-go-komen, or helpline@komen.org.