St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital is offering no-cost mammograms to uninsured women over age 40 on Oct. 2 and 3 to aid in the fight against breast cancer during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

No-cost 3D mammograms will be provided to women who qualify at the hospital, located at 367 Clear Creek Parkway, Lavonia, just off I-85 and Georgia Highways 17 and 59. Appointments are required and will be scheduled on a first-call, first-served basis. To make an appointment, call 706.389.2700 and ask for a no-cost mammogram at Sacred Heart Hospital. Please note that the number of available appointments is limited.

To be eligible, women must be at least 40 years old, have no history of breast problems, be uninsured, have not received a mammogram in at least 12 months, be a resident of Franklin, Stephens or Hart counties, and have a primary care physician or health care provider to receive the results. Women who do not have a primary care provider are urged to contact Sacred Heart Primary Care at (706) 356-1422 or their local health department.

Women receiving the no-cost mammograms will receive state-of-the-art 3D mammography, which has been shown to be about 40 percent more effective than 2D mammography in finding tumors. It also reduces the number of false alarms compared to 2D imaging.

Breast cancer is the second most common kind of cancer in America, and about 1 in 8 women born today in the United States will develop breast cancer at some point in their life. Breast cancer is even more serious in our region, where the incidence rate is higher than the state and national average. 

The good news is that most women can survive breast cancer if it’s found and treated early. Sacred Heart Hospital encourages women to get a mammogram once a year and perform a breast self-exam once a month. Talk to a doctor about your risk for breast cancer, especially if a close family member has had breast or ovarian cancer.