In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is offering a promotion this month to provide 3D mammograms with no out-of-pocket cost to patients who book an appointment at one of its multiple clinics across Southeast Alaska.
SEARHC clinics in Haines, Juneau, Klawock, Sitka and Wrangell are participating in the promotion.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month — first started in 1985 — is an annual month-long event that campaigns to promote more widespread attention to the impacts of breast cancer across the globe.
According to the American Cancer Society, it’s estimated that nearly 290,000 U.S. women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2022, and more than 43,000 women are expected to die from the disease. Along with those numbers, approximately one in eight women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in their lifetime.
The study also found approximately 2,710 new cases and around 530 deaths will emerge among men in the U.S. in 2022.
Lyndsey Schaefer, director of marketing and communications at SEARHC, said Southeast Alaska residents can call SEARHC to book an appointment for any time of the year — not just this month — and receive the no out-of-pocket cost promotion as long as they book it during October. In Juneau that number is 907-364-4450.
She said people should note that though booking the mammograms in October means no out-of-pocket cost to the person, she said costs may still apply to the person’s insurance. Schaefer also said SEARHC is offering the promotion to people who don’t live in the area of the locations providing service as long as they can travel to the area for the appointment.
In previous years, SEARHC has offered pop-up clinics across the region, but this year Schaefer said they are not providing them and instead are using the no out-of-pocket benefit as the main incentive to urge people in Southeast Alaska to book mammograms at one of its health facilities. She said the goal of the promotion is to continue to raise awareness of breast cancer happening here in Southeast Alaska and across the globe.
“We just want to put it out there that mammograms are available and remember detection is the best prevention,” she said. We want to make sure all people across Southeast Alaska are getting their mammograms done.”
Amy Martens, Lead Mammographer for SEARHC, said she urges people in Southeast Alaska to sign up for a mammogram because the likelihood of a woman getting diagnosed with breast cancer is staggeringly high.
“One out of eight women — a very significant number — are going to get breast cancer in their lifetime in the U.S. but because of things like mammography we have millions of breast cancer survivors,” she said.
Between October 2020 and October 2021, SEARHC installed new Hologic 3D mammography units at the Juneau, Wrangell, Klawok and Haines locations. Before then, Sitka was the only SEARHC location in Southeast Alaska that had a 3D mammography. Martens said the installations are a big step in the right direction to ensure people can get the care they need.
“We wanted to be able to make sure this technology is available to the women in Southeast so if they chose to get a mammogram they can,” she said.
She said the promotion is a great thing to take advantage of and said she hopes it motivates residents in Southeast Alaska who might be hesitant to get mammograms because of financial concerns to make the call.
“We don’t want anyone to not get a mammogram because they’re worried about the expense,” she said. “Our goal is to find it early, because the earlier we detect it, the better quality of life that a patient can have,” she said. “The earlier we detect it, the better outcome the patient can have.”
Contacts to schedule an appointment
Haines: Celeste, 907-766-6383
Juneau: Teddy, 907-364-4450
Klawock: Anna, 907-755-4978
Sitka: Kami, 907-966-8490
Wrangell: Kathryn, 907-874-5139
• Contact reporter Clarise Larson at clarise.larson@juneauempire.com or (651)-528-1807. Follow her on Twitter at @clariselarson.
