Did you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month?
Breast cancer doesn’t stop—not even for a global pandemic. This October, we would like to take a moment to remind you that patient screening shouldn’t stop either. Mammography saves lives. Yearly screening mammograms, and other screening exams, will help detect any problems early. That’s why we encourage all women to keep up with their medical care, especially during the COVID 19 pandemic, to help ensure their health in the future.
At York Hospital Breast Care we have implemented expert guidelines from both the American College of Radiology and the Centers for Disease Control to safely resume mammography screening. We are ready to safely take care of patients, from touch-less temperature checks and screening for COVID-19 symptoms at the door, to universal masking, ensuring physical distancing at entry, hallways and waiting rooms, minimizing time in waiting rooms and decontaminating patient care areas according to CDC guidelines. In addition, we have spaced out patient exam times to allow for increased social distancing.
Important reasons to not wait to get a mammogram include:
- Half of all fatal breast cancers are diagnosed before age 50.
- Three out of four women who develop breast cancer have no family history of breast cancer and no other risk factors besides being a woman.
- Starting yearly mammograms at age 40 has helped cut breast cancer deaths by more than 40%.
- One in eight women will get breast cancer—the most common cancer in women.
- Getting screened every other year instead of every year would result in an additional 5,000 more women dying of breast cancer per 100,000 screened.
York Hospital Breast Care is now offering complete diagnostic evaluation, including 3D tomosynthesis and ultrasound, at both our York and Wells offices. We offer same day results and same day work-ups so patients do not have to return for a second visit, reducing anxiety at many levels. Also, our mammograms, which utilize state of the art synthetic 2D imaging as well as 3D tomosynthesis imaging, are obtained at half the dose of other breast imaging sites in the Seacoast and Portland areas.
For more information about York Hospital Breast Care, please visit https://www.yorkhospital.com/services/breast-care/