Mobile Cancer-Screening Program Set to Hit Road

After working out the kinks, a million-dollar trailer outfitted with state-of-the-art mammography equipment is expected to start rolling down some of Nevada 's most desolate roads.

The mammovan — as the nonprofit Nevada Health Centers calls it — was unveiled at the Rio's north parking lot April 17.

The mammovan cost about Linda Costa, chief financial officer of Nevada Health Centers. Just filling up the tank after picking it up from the factory cost $1.3 million, and annual costs to maintain and operate the mobile clinic are expected to run $1.2 million, said $400, she said.

Harrah's Foundation donated Thom Reilly, executive director of the foundation.$250,000 for the capital costs, matched by another $250,000 from Harrah's Western Division properties, said

The $500,000, a one-time donation, was allocated in 2006, he said.

The foundation tries to focus on little-known organizations to support financially, but also gives to large nonprofit groups, such as Meals on Wheels, whose national organization received 35 donated vans, or PBS for a series on parental aging underwritten by Harrah's, Reilly said.

The mammovan will be used to offer mammographies to women living in underserved areas, including rural Nevada .

Dr. Carl Heard, chief medical officer and interim chief executive of Nevada Health Centers, said the centers will also coordinate with employers, such as Harrah's and MGM Mirage, to provide the service to their employees.

Mary Thomas, senior vice president of Harrah's human resources department, said Harrah's is committed to the health and wellness of its employees. Support of the mammovan is an extension of that commitment.

"These screenings will, without question, help save lives," Thomas said.

Harrah's has 40,000 employees in Las Vegas .

The centers' mission to offer care to anyone regardless of her ability to pay and its outreach into rural communities was a major reason the foundation made the contribution, Reilly said.

"Where we live shouldn't determine whether we live," Reilly said.

Once Harrah's established itself as a donor, other groups stepped forward, Heard said.

"This project was really just an idea until the Harrah's Foundation stood up and said, ‘We will support this,’" Heard said.

Other contributors include the Safeway Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Food4Less, Smith's grocery stores and the David and Linda Shaheen Foundation.

Nevada 's former first lady Deema Guinn was the driving force behind the van. She conceived the idea of a mobile mammography clinic 14 years ago after an uninsured cousin died from breast cancer.

In 1999, Nevada Health Centers received a grant for its first mammovan, and by 2000, it was on the road.

The mammovan, a long-bed tractor-trailer outfitted with mammography equipment, will replace the van used for the past eight years. That van — slated for retirement — was offering breast cancer screenings in Laughlin the day of the mammovan's unveiling.

Harrah's Foundation was established in 2002. So far, it has donated Guinn said.$63 million to organizations ranging from small local groups to international ones. Since 2002, 23,000 women have been screened and breast cancer has been discovered in 65 of those women,

"You're saving lives," said Guinn , as she thanked Harrah's Foundation for its contribution and cut the pink ribbon on the mammovan's door. "You're giving a lot of women peace of mind."

The pink ribbon is a symbol of breast cancer awareness and the quest to find a cure. This year the American Cancer Society estimates about 182,000 women will be diagnosed with the disease.

"I just can't believe this is happening," Guinn said to the staff of Nevada Health Centers. "It's a dream. It's here and we're saving lives ... The women of Nevada thank you."