While that statistic is encouraging, facts and figures about mammography don’t always hit home with women, Davis says.
“We have always struggled to get women interested in having mammograms. The tactic we’ve used in the past has been to provide statistics, but that doesn’t always work,” Davis says. “So we’re trying a different tactic.”

In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, St. John’s will host a free women’s health forum at 6 p.m. Oct. 19 at St. John’s Hammons Heart Institute about the myths of mammograms.

“We’re poking fun at the various reasons women put off or don’t get mammograms,” Davis says. “The forum will also include a presentation and Q&A session by Breast Center radiologist Kathleen Gafarian, M.D. and St. John’s Breast Center staff, door prizes and hors d’oevres. It should be a fun event in addition to being educational.”

St. John’s Breast Center opened in the West Pavilion of St. John’s Hospital in 1994. Breast Center medical director and radiologist J. Leon Gregston, M.D., says the center’s foundation is its multi-disciplinary team, which includes radiologists Gregston, Gafarian and Karen S. Baker, M.D., who are dedicated to breast imaging, as well as oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons and plastic surgeons, pathologists, mammography techs, nurses, social workers and pastoral care representatives.

“From the time St. John’s Breast Center opened, we have felt that the best way to care for breast patients is to have a staff dedicated to that specialty. The Breast Center’s radiologists are sub-specialized in breast imaging, which means we focus 100 percent of our energy and education toward breast imaging,” Gregston says.

St. John’s Breast Center performs around 40,000 breast procedures each year, and 27,000-30,000 of those are screening mammograms. Since its 1994 opening, the center has accepted reimbursement from the
National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which has provided uninsured or underinsured women with mammograms.

Click here to read how this program and St. John's Breast Center helped Macks Creek resident Ruby James.

St. John’s also takes mammography and other preventive care straight to the patient with its 40-foot bus “Wellness on Tour” that offers bone density testing, prostate cancer screening, Pap smears and wellness physicals in addition to mammography.

St. John’s has hosted free monthly women’s health forums since 2002, says St. John’s Women’s Services Coordinator Joann Daigh, R.N. Daigh works with St. John’s OB/GYN
Gerald Joseph, M.D., who is the medical director of women’s services for St. John’s, and Susanne Miller, R.N., St. John’s women’s services vice president, to come up with topics for the forums.

The forums cover “personal safety, menopause, parenting, intimacy, bone health, mental health, cosmetic dentistry and everything in between," explains Joseph. “We want to provide forums that interest women of all ages, and we always provide a question-and-answer session at each forum so women can get as much out of them as possible.”