LAURIUM -- A new program at Aspirus Keweenaw is making it easier for local women to get a mammogram.
Joan Marx answers all the calls coming in to the new One Call Breast Care direct line (906-337-5322) at Aspirus Keweenaw. It's her job to collect basic information and decide whether or not a woman is eligible for a screening.
"If anybody were to have a lump, bump, pain, skin changes, anything like that, the right thing to do would be to have them see a provider first, and then we'd have a mammogram to follow,” says Marx. “We want to make sure we're not missing anything."
It’ll take a matter of hours or maybe a day to get in for a routine mammogram--no doctor's referral needed. If all is well, patients will receive their results in the mail within a few days. If there's any cause for concern, a radiologist will schedule follow-up tests immediately.
"It just decreases the wait and worry time for the patient,” says mammogram tech Christy Baccus. “The exam and the results are done a lot sooner. And if there is breast cancer, the sooner it's diagnosed, the sooner we can treat it and increase the patient's outcome."
The One Call Breast Care team meets regularly to ensure the new program, which started this spring, is working well.
"For women who are maybe summer residents, they have a physician downstate but they want to get their mammogram up here, it's perfect,” says Dr. Sharon Stoll. “Or women who maybe don't have a primary care provider to set a mammogram up for them can call and we'll set it up for them. There are all sorts of patients who might benefit."
The program is helping to kick-off a comprehensive Women's Health initiative at the hospital, in which it’s hoping to expand birthing options, aesthetic treatments, physical therapy services and several other areas.
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