Breast Screening New South Wales sends its mobile unit out to communities across the region to offer women 40 and older, free mammograms for the disease. They target women between the ages 50 to 74. 

The bus is installed again in the car park on the corner of Evans and Campbell Streets and will be there until the end of November. 

Shayne McDonald is the Hunter New England site manager for BreastScreen NSW. She said early detection is key, and screening every two years is encouraged. The opportunity has been taken up by many local women.

“In Inverell in 2012 we screened about 950 women and, as it is a two yearly screening program, we would like to see most of these women coming back this year as well as many more eligible women, especially those aged 50 to 74 years, attending for the first time,” Shayne said.

BreastScreen NSW states that one in eight women across Australia will develop breast cancer, and nine of 10 women who develop breast cancer do not carry a family history of the disease. 

In 2014, it is expected that about 15,270 Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. If detected early, survival rates are now as high as 97 per cent.

Modern screening equipment used can detect irregularities as small as a grain of rice. Inverell Breast Cancer Support Group president Jan O’Neill said she has already made an appointment for a screening.

“Inverell is just so lucky to have this bus coming, and it’s obvious to me and everybody else in town that a lot of people have found the tiniest, little problem through this bus,” she said.

To make an appointment or enquiry about a screening, phone 13 20 50.