Jacksonville Memorial Hospital will offer free breast cancer screenings for uninsured or under-insured women and extended hours for all women to schedule their annual mammograms during October as part of Mammogram Mondays
Appointments are required; no walk-ins are available. Amanda Vortman, lead mammography technologist at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital says everything starts with that appointment phone call: “This will start with patients who have no insurance or high deductibles. They should contact the scheduling department at the hospital, who will then make an appointment for them to have their mammogram done. We have certain scheduled time frames for these patients to be seen on Monday afternoons. It all starts with the scheduling department who will get someone an appointment made and then we get everyone set up for the arrangements that we have made with the Mia Ware Foundation to have help in paying for these mammograms.”
Vortman says that patients should not be scared of an uncomfortable process. She says a lot of advancement in the process and with the tools take a mammogram have made things more tolerable and easier than they once were: “There is still such a thing as the ‘mashing’ perspective of the mammogram. However, over the years, there has been a lot of improvements with that portion of the procedure, where many of the horror stories started with that aspect many, many years ago. While the concept is similar to what it once was, there have been many improvements to make things more comfortable such as we have a curved paddle and also the equipment that we have has helped improve services to allow for more comfort.”
Free mammograms are being offered at all five Memorial Health hospitals in the month of October as a part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The screenings will be offered from 4 to 6 p.m. on each Monday at the hospital. To schedule an appointment, call 217-479-5696.