Mobile Screening ...On the Move!

The Center for Cancer Care & Research is going the extra mile to keep the community healthy with its mobile screening unit. They serve patients where they work anywhere in Polk County - Lakeland, Lake Wales, Mulberry, Haines City, Auburndale, Frostproof, and everywhere in between.

The mobile unit - an exam room on wheels - is driven to the employer's location on specified days and times to offer a variety of screenings including mammograms, skin checks and PSA blood tests. The unit is a 40-foot-long medical facility on wheels that is staffed by a certified mammography technician, laboratory technician and dermatology physician assistant, as well as a driver. The mobile unit carries all of the necessary equipment, including a mammography x-ray machine, changing room and separate examination room, as well as an administrative desk with TV/VCR and photocopier.

"We are thrilled to offer such thorough prevention and screening services to area employers," said Carol S. Martin, R.N., program manager of the Mobile Screening Unit. "We want to make preventative screenings more available to ensure that working individuals don't procrastinate with their own health care." Carol said that the goal of the program is to create easy access to screenings and to teach that knowledge and early detection is the best defense against cancer.

To use the mobile screening unit services, a business needs a minimum of 20 employees who meet the criteria for a screening. For example, women 40 and older for mammograms or men 40 and older for prostate screening (PSA blood tests). The screenings are completed by highly trained physician assistants and support staff from Watson Clinic, which is a partner in the Center for Cancer Care & Research. At the completion of the screenings, results are forwarded to doctors from Watson Clinic or the patient's existing physician. Most insurance plans cover the cost of the screenings.