Mobile mammography unit makes rounds across Alaska

Odette Butler, executive director of the Breast Cancer Detection Center of Alaska stands outside the center’s mobile unit, which travels thousands of miles to serve rural Alaskans every year. Amanda Bohman

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Fairbanks-based mobile mammography unit makes yearly rounds across Alaska

By Amanda Bohman AlAskA Pulse

Tok, population 1,258, where Cindy Jernigan rents camping spots and cabins, has limited health care services. Jernigan typically takes care of her health needs while living Outside during the winter, she said.

“I do not have medical insurance. Knock on wood, I stay healthy,” said the owner of Tok RV Village and Cabins.

When the Breast Cancer Detection Center of Alaska’s mobile unit visited Tok last summer, Jernigan had a mammogram. It was convenient.

Tok sits along the Alaska Highway 93 miles from the Canadian border. To otherwise get a mammogram in Alaska, Jernigan would need to travel hundreds of miles.

“It was so nice to be able to stay here in the community and have that done,” she said. “The results were sent to me, and it worked out perfectly. I think they provide a wonderful service to the smaller communities. I’m grateful. They take care of ladies that need this.”

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Alaska. Since 1986, the BCDC mobile detection program has served thousands of rural residents, traveling to communities from Dutch Harbor to Central.

Only about 20 communities in Alaska have mammography capabilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On the road with a mission

The mobile imaging technology has changed but the goal—saving lives— has persisted.

Early detection is key, according to Odette Butler, executive director of the Breast Cancer Detection Center of Alaska.

“The longer you wait, the harder it is to treat,” she said.

The Breast Cancer Detection Center

operates one of two mobile mammography units in the state.

All who seek a mammogram from the detection center, a nonprofit, are served, regardless of ability to pay. The center raises money to offset the expenses of serving people with limited resources, Butler said.

The BCDC’s mission is to “increase awareness of the survivability of breast cancer and the benefits of early detection by delivering screening services and educational programs throughout the state of Alaska.”

In a typical year, starting in April, the mobile detection unit hits the road, serving Gustavus, Yakutat, Ninilchik, Nenana, Skagway, Girdwood and more.

In 2018, about 25 communities had mobile mammography service courtesy of the Fairbanks-based mobile detection unit.

Mary Dinon, registered nurse case manager in Klawock, said mammography is unavailable on her small Southeast Alaska island. Without the mobile unit, residents must travel for mammograms.

“It’s definitely a vital service. We are “It was so nice to be able to stay here in the community and have that done. The results were sent to me, and it worked out perfectly. I think they provide a wonderful service to the smaller communities. I’m grateful. They take care of ladies that need this.”

— Cindy Jernigan, Tok

kind of scrambling this year without it,” she said.

The mobile unit had to cut back its 2020 schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a typical year, the unit logs more than 4,000 miles.

Dinon said her patients are traveling to Ketchikan and Sitka for mammograms this year.

“I really think they fill a niche here,” she said.

Butler is hopeful that those who rely on the mobile unit are finding other ways to get a mammogram this year.

“We still tell our patients to get a mammogram every year,” she said.

In 2018, 887 people received mammograms courtesy of the Breast Cancer Detection Center’s mobile unit. In 2019, the unit served fewer people, 498, after the Alaska Marine Highway strike and a broken generator in August.

This year, 156 mammograms have been performed via the mobile unit since June. The detection center has COVID-19 protocols but the global

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The Breast Cancer Detection Center’s Fairbanks-based mobile center is named “Nancy,” in honor of former Alaska first lady Nancy Murkowski, a BCDC founder.

Odette Butler talks about the mobile unit’s imaging machine. The unit’s setup cost about $650,000, bought with support from several charities. Amanda

Bohman photos

pandemic has made travel logistics challenging, Butler said.

A rig named ‘Nancy’

The technology when the BCDC first began offering mobile services was a portable, folding imaging machine that was stuffed in a van or flown around rural Alaska in a crate.

These days, the detection center is offering state-of-the-art imaging known as tomosynthesis, also known as 3D mammography, in a customized 34-foot Freightliner truck named “Nancy” in recognition of former Alaska first lady Nancy Murkowski, a founder of the BCDC who was inspired to improve access to mammography after a friend was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The pink-splashed big rig is decked out with a Barbara Lavallee-inspired mural on its side, a waiting area with a flat screen television and an imaging machine worth more than a new fivebedroom house.

The whole set-up cost $650,000, according to Butler, with support from the Waterfowl Foundation, a charity operated by the Murkowski family, the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and others.

The mobile unit costs about $175,000 a year to operate. When it rolls into a community, it is eye-catching.

Butler said many of the mammograms are pre-scheduled, but they do accept walks-ins.

“Mammograms are important,” she said. “People need to get their mammograms.”

The mobile unit has also served as a marketing tool for the detection center.

The truck has appeared in the Fairbanks Golden Days Grande Parade and other high-profile events.

People can pay $1,000 to have the name of a breast cancer victim or survivor written on the side of the truck. Companies can have their logo added for $5,000.

The truck inspires new supporters of the Breast Cancer Detection Center.

“I have had guys come up to me when I drive it in the parade and say, ‘If you ever need somebody to drive this around, I will do it for you,’” Butler said.

A commercial driver’s license is not required to operate the truck, which Butler said gets about 8 miles to a gallon of fuel.

The Breast Cancer Detection Center was founded in Fairbanks 1976 and was the first to offer mammograms in Interior Alaska.

Contact staff writer Amanda Bohman at 459-7545. Email her at abohman@AlaskaPulse.com