Need a Mammogram? Bug Your Boss

I finally had a mammogram. Big deal, you say? Well, for me, it is a big deal. My doctor told me three years ago I should start having mammograms as part of regular check-ups. That script is still resting peacefully in my overstuffed wallet, along with Home Depot receipts from 2005.

How did I finally tick this one off my to-do list from hell?  My employer arranged to have a mobile diagnostic radiology unit show up at work. Mammogram in a van.

“There’s three of us—there’s the technician, the driver, and me,” says Debbie Herman, field coordinator of Multi-Diagnostic Services, in Jamaica, N.Y., one of two such companies in the New York area (Multi-Diagnostic has three vans and drives to Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, too).

They basically wheel the contraption into a private room and get to work. “We do it really fast. The whole procedure, if we’re on time and there are no glitches, takes 15 minutes.”

I won’t lie to you: A workplace mammogram is a tad disconcerting. One minute you’re shuffling papers and cursing the office cad who used up the printer toner, the next minute a stranger is massaging your breasts like she was making pierogies.

And it’s not like a trip to the regular doctor. There you get a private place to disrobe and a few minutes to come to terms with the fact that there’s no graceful way to wear a paper gown.

For the at-work mammogram, it’s a two-minute wait, whip off your
shirt in front of the tech, and get to it. It’s all about speed.

But that’s what makes it great. Mobile units have been used for
years to provide mammograms to rural women without access to care. Now
they can cater to the chronically time-deprived.

In the three years I put off my mammogram, I neglected just about
every aspect of my health. My kids were morphing from toddlers into
busy little people, and I was hop-scotching jobs faster than you can say
“better health benefits.” (I get the irony—I finally had health
benefits but couldn’t seem to find the time to use them.)

And I suspect there are lots of women out there like me. Getting a mammogram is not an uncommon goal listed on (a great site for listing your goals and cheering on others to meet theirs).

If you don’t have time for a mammogram, talk to your employer or ask
your local breast cancer society office about mobile mammogram programs
in your area. The latter can work out a no-cost or low-cost deal with
the employer by either accepting your regular insurance or having the
worker or workplace pony up a co-payment, generally in the $20 to $30
range.

“We do find positive mammograms, and then people call us back and say
‘Thank you for saving my life,’” says Herman. “If we weren’t there,
they wouldn’t have had the mammogram. People call us and thank us—and
it makes us feel very good.”