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NINE people were screened for breast cancer in the first one-and-a-half hours of BreastScreen Victoria’s inaugural visit to the Elmore Field Days.
And women just kept turning up at the door of the mobile breast screening services van.
“We didn’t know how we’d go,” health promotion officer Anne O'Callaghan said.
But the bright pink van seemed to be attracting attention.
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Marjorie is one of two BreastScreen Victoria mobile screening services.
The van was named after the late Dr Marjorie Dalgarno, who performed Australia’s first mammogram in the early 1950s.
“This operates just like a clinic,” Ms O'Callaghan said.
Only it spends much of its time on the road.
Maryborough is among the van’s upcoming destinations.
Ms O'Callaghan said the mobile services were particularly helpful for people who lived in remote areas and struggled to access screening in their communities, and to people working full-time.
Women aged 40 and over are eligible for one free mammogram every two years.
More than 1.7 million women took part in the national breast cancer screening program, BreastScreen Australia, in 2014/15.
About 54 per cent of women aged 50-74 participated in the program during that period.
A report, published on Tuesday, found breast cancer mortality had decreased since BreastScreen Australia started in 1991.
But the incidence of breast cancer among women aged 50-74 years has remained steady for more than a decade, at about 300 new cases per 100,000 women.
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October is breast cancer awareness month – a time to raise breast awareness in the community.
Cancer Australia encourages women to take the time to get to know the normal look and feel of their breast, to better detect any changes.
It identifies changes to look out for, including:
- A new lump, or lumpiness;
- A change in the size or shape of breasts;
- Redness or dimpling on the skin of the breast;
- A change in the nipple;
- Nipple discharge;
- And an unusual pain that doesn’t go away.
People who have identified a breast change are advised to see their doctor, “without delay”.
Marjorie the BreastScreen Victoria van will be stationed at the Elmore Field Days from 11am – 3pm on Thursday.
To book an appointment outside of the field days program, or for more information about the mobile screening service, call 13 20 50 or visit the BreastScreen Victoria website.
Entry to the Elmore Field Days is $20 per adult and $10 per child aged over 12 years.
Admission is free for children under 12 years.
For more information about the program, click here.