Alberta Cancer Foundation Mobile Mammography Unit
New mobile breast cancer screening units roll into Fort McMurray
FORT McMURRAY, AB. — Women in Fort McMurray and across northern Alberta will now have access to state-of-the-art mobile breast cancer screening thanks to two new units unveiled this week.
The trailers, which replace older models that had been in service for more than a decade, will be used by Screen Test, a provincial program managed by Primary Care Alberta. They will make regular stops at the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre and other rural and Indigenous communities.
Funded through the Alberta Cancer Foundation, with support from partners including the Northern Lights Health Foundation, the units are equipped with advanced mammography technology and designed with greater comfort and accessibility in mind.
“Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death among women, but survival continues to improve due in part to screening,” said Alberta Cancer Foundation CEO Wendy Beauchesne. “Improving access in rural and remote areas means more Albertans are getting screened and more cancer is being discovered early.”
Primary Care Alberta CEO Kim Simmonds said the program is crucial to ensuring women between the ages of 45 and 74 have access to timely screening. “Getting screened regularly is the best way to find breast cancer early, when treatment has the greatest impact,” she said.
One in seven women in Alberta are expected to develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Since 1991, Screen Test has performed more than half a million mammograms and detected thousands of cancers. The program serves more than 120 rural and Indigenous communities each year.
Donations to support the new mobile units can be made through the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
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