Health group’s mobile clinics aim to bring mammograms to more Merced women

A pink bus can solve the problem for women in Merced County who haven’t received a mammography screening in more than a year.

Life Saving Images, an organization focused on education and research while aiming to increase mammography screening rates, is focusing its efforts on Merced County, said Jim Drury, founder of the organization.

“Data showed this was a very underserved area,” Drury said. “We selected Merced because out of all 58 counties (in California), Merced has one of highest rates of late-stage breast cancer.”

Drury founded the organization two years ago, initially focusing its efforts in the Bay Area around Silicon Valley. It now serves three areas: the Bay Area, Las Vegas and Merced. UCLA and MammoRisk, a preventive-medicine company based in France, are two of the group’s main contributors in research and technology.

The organization’s mobile clinics have been in the area since August and recently the group signed a lease for office space at 545 W. 26th St., where women can follow up with additional robotic ultrasounds if needed, a machine not found anywhere else in the Central Valley.

Drury confirmed plans to be in Merced long term.

“We’re putting more resources in Merced because we find it encouraging that we can help more people,” Drury said. “Our culture is to help as many women as we can.”

The group hopes to help reduce late-stage breast cancer in Merced County by 50 percent within the next three years, Drury said. The more women the group reaches for screenings, he said, the earlier technicians will be able detect cancerous cells at an early stage, when they’re most treatable.

“If we do that efficiently and consistently in Merced, the rate will go down and be one of the best rates,” Drury said. “Screening is the problem. The treatment is usually pretty good if you catch it early.”

Breast cancer can grow for years undetected, Drury said, and the only way it can be self-detected is when the tumor has grown to a large size, usually when it’s in later stages and more difficult to treat.

“It’s a silent killer,” Drury said. “Screening is critically important. It’s the only way to stop something that you can’t feel until it’s too big.”

Every technician working with Life Saving Images specializes in mammography, Drury said, such as Brenda Wiley, a radiologic technician who has been working in Merced’s mobile clinics.

Wiley said one of the goals is to make mammograms as convenient and available as possible. The organization takes any type of insurance, she said, and anybody without it won’t be turned down.

Women who are 35 are advised to start receiving mammograms, Wiley said, so they have an example of what the breasts look like before hitting age 40 and older. After age 40, women should go in for screenings every year, she said.

“It’s a medical disservice that women aren’t getting them done every year,” Wiley said.

A mobile clinic will be at the Bear Creek Galleria from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. From 3:40 to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, the mobile clinics are scheduled to be at schools to scan parents and teachers: Cruickshank Middle School on Tuesday, Rivera Middle School on Wednesday, Tenaya Middle School on Thursday and Hoover Middle School on Friday.

For more information on where Life Saving Images’ mobile clinics will be, go to the organization’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/followthebigpinkbus or call 209-261-9664.

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Health group’s mobile clinics aim to bring mammograms to more Merced women."