Western Wisconsin  – During October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Prevea Health and its hospital partners want to remind everyone about the importance of breast health and breast screenings.  

In June 2021, Prevea Health, in partnership with HSHS Sacred Heart and St. Joseph’s hospitals, launched a 3-D and digital  mobile mammography unit to provide residents in rural communities greater access to breast health screenings.  

The mobile mammography unit is equipped with mammography technology that has the capability to provide 3-D and/or digital images. It features two changing rooms and a waiting room and is staffed by a registered mammography technologist. It travels on a regular basis to Prevea Health centers in Altoona, Augusta, Cornell, Ladysmith, Menomonie, Mondovi and Rice Lake, as well as to area businesses.  

In its first 14 months, June 2021 through August 2022, the mobile mammography unit and its staff have provided 723 patients in these rural communities with mammograms. Of those 723 patients:  

• 95 patients received a mammogram for the first time 
• 65 patients required additional imaging for suspected breast cancer 
• 76 patients had not had a mammogram in more than 5 years  

“Many of the women we serve may not have otherwise received a mammogram due to the burden of having to travel to another community far away where services are available,” said Megan Bauer, mobile imaging coordinator. “Our mobile unit allows us to take these lifesaving breast screenings directly to them. If we can find cancer early with a mammogram, it is likely more treatable.” 

All women should talk with their health care provider about the appropriate timing for screening mammograms, especially women who are age 40 or at high-risk. A schedule will be based upon an individual’s health. At age 40, any woman may wish to begin regular screening mammograms. By age 45, women should have a screening mammogram and continue to have one at least every other year.  

To learn more about Prevea mammography and the mobile mammography unit, visit: www.prevea.com/mammo 

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About HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital
HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital is sponsored by Hospital Sisters Ministries, the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis is the Founding Institute, and it is an affiliate of  Hospital Sisters Health System. Since 1885, it has served the people of the Chippewa Falls area with health care that is high tech and high touch. Known locally for the quality of the care it provides patients, the hospital has been recognized nationally for its outstanding patient satisfaction levels.

About HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital
HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital is sponsored by Hospital Sisters Ministries, the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis is the Founding Institute, and it is an affiliate of  Hospital Sisters Health System. Since 1889, it has been meeting patient needs in western Wisconsin with the latest medical innovations and technology, together with a Franciscan whole-person healing tradition.

About Hospital Sisters Health System
Hospital Sisters Health System’s (HSHS) mission is to reveal and embody Christ’s healing love for all people through our high quality, Franciscan health care ministry. HSHS provides state-of-the-art health care to our patients and is dedicated to serving all people, especially the most vulnerable, at each of our physician practices and 15 local hospitals in two states - Illinois (Breese, Decatur, Effingham, Greenville, Highland, Litchfield, O’Fallon, Shelbyville and Springfield) and Wisconsin (Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Oconto Falls, Sheboygan, and two in Green Bay). HSHS is sponsored by Hospital Sisters Ministries, and Hospital Sisters of St. Francis is the founding institute. For more information about HSHS, visit www.hshs.org. For more information about Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, visit www.hospitalsisters.org.

About Prevea Health

Founded in Green Bay, Wis. in 1996, Prevea Health is a health care organization that provides high-quality, primary and specialty health care in 80+ locations across northern, eastern and western Wisconsin in clinic and hospital settings. It is partnered with six Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) hospitals across Wisconsin to provide patients a system of highly-coordinated care, close to home: HSHS St. Vincent Hospital and HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center in Green Bay; HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan; HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital in Oconto Falls; HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire; and HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls. For more information, visit www.prevea.com.