Mobile mammography unit coming to Albany Belk on Jan. 10

ALBANY — The BelkGives on the Go Mobile Mammography Center, a 39-foot-long screening center on wheels, will stop at the Belk store in Albany on Jan. 10 to offer free mammogram screenings.

Women age 40 and over with no breast concerns, who have not had a mammogram in the last year and have a primary care physician are eligible to participate, officials say. It will be from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Albany Mall Belk at 2601 Dawson Road.

After receiving their mammograms, women are being invited to visit the intimate apparel area in the Belk store to receive complimentary bra fittings. Officials said all screening exams will be performed by Charlotte Radiology’s licensed, female mammography-certified technologists. A board-certified radiologist specializing in breast imaging will interpret the mammogram.

“Early detection is a women’s best chance,” said Denise Ballard, vice president of cancer prevention and control for the Cancer Coalition of South Georgia upon receiving word of the Jan. 10 event. “Mobile screenings offer the best convenience without going to a free-standing hospital (or medical center).

“Belk might draw a lot of women (who don’t have easy access). Just having it visible in a shopping area, it is more likely (the screenings will be done). It is a great way to start the new year for women to look out for their health.”

Mammograms can often find a breast cancer before it can even be felt by a doctor, Ballard said, increasing the odds of survival for anybody.

“Women who are unable to pay for mammograms have the highest death rate,” she said. “It provides the best opportunity … because (these are) often women who don’t get screened at all. I hope that everyone who needs a mammogram will come out and take advantage.”

Confidential results from the screenings will be sent to the patient and her primary care physician, officials with Belk say.

Belk launched BelkGives on the Go Mobile Mammography in 2013 in partnership with Charlotte Radiology. The mobile mammography center is expected to bring digital screening and awareness to all Belk markets with the journey beginning in 232 stores throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia through January.

In its first year, the mobile unit performed more than 4,500 mammograms throughout the Southeast that resulted in 14 cancer diagnoses, Belk officials said.

For more information, or to make a screening appointment, call 855-655-BMMC (2662) or go to www.belk.com/pink.