Driven by their mission to improve the health of those they serve, St. James Healthcare has launched a mobile mammography program to better care for the women of southwest Montana. The program removes barriers to screening by making it faster and more convenient for women in rural Montana to have a screening mammogram, the key to lifesaving early detection of breast cancer.

St. James’ new mobile mammography coach provides 3D mammography imaging technology, which finds invasive cancers 40-percent more frequently than a traditional 2D mammogram. Research also shows 3D reduces the number of women called back for expensive and unnecessary testing due to false alarms, which is significant to women in rural, remote communities.

When breast cancer is found early, this disease is highly treatable. Mammograms not only detect changes in a woman’s breast health well before an abnormal mass can be felt, they also greatly improve breast cancer survival rates. That is why the St. James Healthcare Foundation committed to fundraising the $800,000 needed to launch the program for southwest Montana.

"We service a seven-county region, so we want to make sure that we’re providing access to all women in our region. We want to ensure that all women who need to be screened are getting screened," said Kacie Bartholomew, Director of Development for the St. James Healthcare Foundation.