UVA Health unveils new mobile mammography van

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - For many women, a trip to the doctors for their annual mammography is challenging, or completely unattainable. UVA Health said for these rural communities, they are trying to make its services more readily available. Sometimes, that means going to them.

That’s where the new mobile mammography van comes in.

“If we’re able to save one lady, then this van is worth it to me,” said mobile mammography coordinator for UVA health Amy Pennington.

Pennington said when women cannot make it to the hospital to get checked for breast cancer, her team can now make it to them, no matter the weather or distance.

“Say they live in Orange, and they don’t want to drive that hour in,” Pennington said. “We can go to them.”

The idea of putting a mammography on wheels is nothing new; however, Chief of Breast Imaging Timothy Rooney said the bus they had previously used was limiting at times.

Its large size alone prevented the bus from reaching many places. Now, the smaller van will be able to go wherever its needed.

“If you step inside this van, it’s like stepping inside our breast center and getting your mammogram with the exact same technology,” Rooney said.

Not only the same technology, Rooney said, but the same care team, with results returned to patients within the next day.

“Whether they got the mammogram here on this bus or in the breast center shouldn’t matter as far as when they get those results,” Rooney said.

Now, they’ll be on the move Monday through Friday.

“They’re gonna be all over the place,” Rooney said. “The world is our oyster where we go.”

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