Free Mammogram Campaign Benefits Community

Fort HealthCare nurses, physicians and staff from all departments work diligently to provide exceptional care to our patients and also contribute selflessly to a variety of community causes and events.  

One such activity that provided great benefit to members of our community was the recent mammography campaign where Fort HealthCare offered free or reduced cost mammograms to women who may have not been able to afford them.

Fort HealthCare asked the question: Who needs a mammogram? The answer was clear: All women over the age of 40. The follow up question was: Who schedules a mammogram? That answer was also clear: Not all women who need one do, as too many women are underinsured or uninsured and do not schedule mammograms. The Fort HealthCare community mammogram program was implemented to make sure that all women that needed a mammogram had the opportunity to receive one.

Cathy Hovel, Manager of the Radiology Department at Fort Memorial Hospital, says mammograms are a critical step in detecting breast cancer. “We’re doing everything possible to work with women so that they can have this potentially life-saving exam.” With funding from a generous grant from the Fort Memorial Hospital Foundation, free mammograms were provided for women who qualified through a mammogram voucher program.

Vouchers were distributed to women in the community as a result of a needs assessment from a Fort HealthCare physician, or from the Rock River Free Clinic in Jefferson where Fort HealthCare physicians also volunteer to see patients. The ongoing effort also extended mammogram appointments into evenings and weekends. Dozens of free mammogram vouchers have been made available to underinsured or uninsured women in the community and at last count, 53 were redeemed at the Fort Memorial Hospital Radiology Department.

Vouchers are still available. For more information call or visit any of these locations:

• Jefferson County Health Department and/or Rock River Free Clinic N3995 Annex Road, Jefferson
• Fort HealthCare Center for Women’s Health 650 McMillen Street, Fort Atkinson
  1461 West Main Street, Whitewater
• Fort HealthCare Family Practice Clinics 704 Katie Court, Cambridge
  500 Edwards Street, Fort Atkinson
  520 Handeyside Lane, Suite 2, Fort Atkinson
  840 West Racine Street, Jefferson
  400 Doctors Court, Johnson Creek
  200 East Tyranena Park Road, Lake Mills