Free Mammograms Offered Friday at Doctors Medical Center

Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo will be offering women free mammograms on Friday, a spokeswoman for the hospital said Monday.
 
Healthcare professionals will administer the mammograms between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the hospital's Cancer Center at 2000 Vale Road, according to DMC spokeswoman Tracy Taylor.
 
Taylor said the event is mainly intended to serve women who are over 40, live in the West Contra Costa Healthcare District, who are uninsured or who have risk factors for breast cancer.
 
Women are asked to schedule an appointment for the free service.
 
More than a dozen have signed up so far, and Taylor said the hospital plans to offer a mammogram to everyone who makes an appointment.
 
"There's so many new cases of breast cancer - it is the cancer that really affects women - and we know that screening allows for early detection and we know that early detection helps ensure a safer outcome," the spokeswoman said.
 
The free mammograms were made possible by a $40,000 grant from the Susan G. Komen foundation's Bay Area affiliate, Oakland radiologist Dr. Hayden Evans and Oakland-based Affiliates in Imaging.
 
The hospital has long offered free mammograms annually and hopes to provide them biannually in the future, Taylor said. Doctors Medical Center is West Contra Costa County's only public hospital, serving mostly uninsured or underinsured patients.
 
After years of financial struggles and voters' rejection earlier this year of a parcel tax measure meant to keep the hospital afloat, DMC officials have said they plan to downsize drastically. The healthcare district's board this month is set to consider different scaled-down hospital models including a stand-alone emergency room or a much smaller hospital with an emergency department.
 
Women seeking more information about the hospital's free mammograms or who want to make an appointment may call (510) 970-5236.

—By Bay City News