October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Upstate University Hospital is encouraging women to get their annual mammograms. To assist women in getting their mammograms, Upstate has a mobile van that travels throughout the state.

“We can look at our images after we take them and make sure, quality-wise, they’re good,” licensed radiologic technologist Julie Tenkate said.

As a licensed radiologic technologist, Tenkate performs mammograms on women on a regular basis.

“Most of the time it’s mainly 10 minutes,” Tenkate said. “It’s pretty quick.”

She says the American Cancer Society recommends that women should start getting a mammogram once they’re over the age of 40.

“A mammogram is just taking the pictures to see if there’s anything going on in your breasts,” Tenkate said. “What they do is compare it year to year so that’s why we recommend it every year after age of 40.”

Program manager Wendy Hunt says having the mobile bus is beneficial to a lot of women, especially those who live in the inner city.

“And it’s hard for some people to get to where there is a center to do this,” Hunt said. “So we’re able to travel to those places where it may take them an hour to get to an imaging center and have a mammogram. Some of them may not be able to do that drive even once a year.”

Hunt says they have been doing the mobile bus for the past five years now. From then to now, she says participation has grown.

“So what we do is we just bring the breast up and then in there and have her look towards me,” Tenkate said.

Hunt says most insurances cover the mammograms and for women who don’t have insurance, there’s the cancer services program that pays for the mammogram.

If you’re looking to get a mammogram, you can visit upstate.edu to see when the mobile bus will be near you.