Mobile mammography unit to serve communities in rural NW Ga.
Sen. Jon Ossoff was in Rome on Friday morning alongside Kurt Stuenkel, president and CEO of Atrium Health Floyd, to announce the funding for a new mobile mammography center to serve rural Northwest Georgia communities.
“This second mobile mammography center will make it easier for women to get screened in rural communities,” Ossoff said. “It’s a two-hour drive from some parts of Northwest Georgia to receive medical attention, making it hard to get to a hospital.”
Ossoff made the announcement outside the Harbin Clinic Cancer Center alongside Atrium’s original mobile mammography bus, introduced into service in 2008. The Breast Center at Floyd is housed inside the building off Second Avenue.
When introducing Ossoff, both Rome Mayor Sundai Stevenson and Floyd County Commission Chair Allison Watters said the fight against cancer is a personal one — their mothers are both breast cancer survivors.
“It’s an unfortunate fact that only 50% of women eligible for breast cancer screenings get tested,” Watters said. “Healthcare should not be political.”
Ossoff was able to secure the $1.1 million for the unit in a bipartisan Congressional appropriation. “Early detection saves lives,” Ossoff said, “And I’m always happy to cross the aisle and work with my GOP colleagues for this.”
This second mobile mammography unit will be deployed to Chattooga County primarily, and will be attached to the upcoming freestanding emergency department being built in Trion.
Supplying this service to rural communities is of the utmost importance, Harbin Clinic oncologist and hematologist Dr. Melissa Dillmon said.
“We have had so many patients who were detected early through these (mobile) screenings,” Dillmon said. On Friday, Dillmon was traveling to a Georgia Society of Clinical Oncology leadership meeting in Lake Oconee with Dr. Gregory Harris and was unable to attend the ceremony.
But providing cancer detection services is a message dear to her heart. Recalling touring breast cancer facilities 15 years ago along with other doctors, Dillmon said, it’s good to see additional options for rural communities come online.
“We created something special here in Rome,” she said.
Atrium Health Floyd officially broke ground last September on the facility which will serve the surrounding communities. State, local and Atrium Health officials, including Gov. Brian Kemp, attended the groundbreaking.
The $18.4 million freestanding emergency department will be located next to Walmart on U.S. Highway 27 and will provide access to residents countywide. The facility will include six treatment rooms along with onsite laboratory and imaging services, including x-ray and a CT scanner.