Archive: Around Town

There are two reasons you might put off a medical exam: money and convenience.  Your insurance may not cover it, or your deductible may be too high.  Or you may not want to take the time off work to go to a hospital and wait around until they can see you.  Binghamton's Lourdes Hospital is trying to address that with its Mission In Motion van, which provides mammograms and women's health services in five counties.  Wednesday the van made its first visit to Tompkins County, hosted by Brittany Station in Groton.

"We are reaching out to the women of this area to provide digital mammograms and women's health service to women that might not be able to get into their local hospitals or doctors offices due to transportation issues or other obstacles," says Mission in Motion Outreach Coordinator Christine Ondecko.  "We're here to provide those services for them."

The word 'van' is a bit misleading.  While the original van was similar to a recreational vehicle with an analog mammogram machine, the new one is a custom built state-of-the art facility featuring a reception/waiting room, an examining room where you can see a nurse practitioner, and a room where you can get a digital mammogram.  Once you enter it you might as well be in the hospital with its surprisingly roomy facilities that even includes a working bathroom.


The program has been serving Broome, Tioga, and Chenango counties for about ten years.  This year the program is reaching out to Tompkins and Cortland counties with visits to Groton, Marathon, and Cincinnatus.  Another visit is planned for October when Groton organizers plan a  'Paint the Town Pink' event they hope will get more local businesses involved in promoting Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Ondecko got in touch with the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes, who got in touch with personal trainer Deborah Newman .  Newman contacted Brittany Station gift shop owner Janet Watkins to see if she would host the visit.

"Janet knows so many people in the community," Newman says.  "With her store right here on main Street, it would be a great way to make the community aware of this great service."

Watkins jumped at the chance.  Her husband is undergoing cancer treatment, and she has friends who have had breast cancer, so she wanted to help increase awareness in her community and help women get tested.  She and Newman are among the planners of the upcoming 'Paint the Town Pink' event.

"It's just a good thing to do," Watkins says.  "to make people aware and reach out to people that can't afford a mammogram, or don't have insurance."

Lourdes has connected with the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes and the Cortland County Health Department to help women whose insurance doesn't cover the exam, or who can't afford insurance.


Typically women are seen by appointment so there is no waiting.  The mammogram technician can look at a digital mammogram on-site to make sure it isn't blurred and instantly redo the exam if necessary.  The images are brought back to Lourdes where a radiologist interprets the results and notifies the patient's doctor.  Doctors don't have to be affiliated with Lourdes, and women who don't have a doctor can use the nurse practitioner.

The van always travels with a driver / medical office assistant, who registers and checks in patients, and a mammogram technician.  Often a nurse practitioner also comes who can provide Pap smears, clinical breast exams, and other medical services.  Ondecko says the van provided about 1198 mammograms in 2008.

Ondecko coordinates the program, acting as a sort of 'advance man' for the van, as well as keeping track of statistics and the budget, and working with outreach people like Newman and Watkins.  She schedules the van at manufacturing facilities where women can get their exams during breaks so they don't have to miss work, as well as Lourdes satellite sites and other locations.  She says her favorite part of the job is reading survey comments from women who have been examined on the van.

"Reading their comments is always a great part of it," she says.  "They always have fantastic things to say about this team, how much they enjoyed it, how they were nervous about going in and these guys made them feel warm and welcome.  They do a fantastic job.  Promoting them is so easy, because I know what they can do."

----
v5i34