Meijer Partnership with Spectrum Health Increases Customer Access to Mammography Services

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Meijer is joining forces with Spectrum Health to make getting screened for breast cancer more convenient than ever.

Meijer is sponsoring a new mobile mammography unit that will be operated by Spectrum Health’s Betty Ford Breast Care Services. An open house to celebrate the launch of the unit will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 20 at the Alpine Meijer, 2425 Alpine Ave NW, in Grand Rapids. Customers can tour the new unit, learn more about Betty Ford Breast Care Services, and schedule a future mammogram.

Following the open house, the mobile mammography unit will visit Meijer stores and locations throughout West Michigan.

“We are very pleased that this new mobile unit, made possible through the generosity of Meijer, will bring mammography into communities where such services are not readily available,” said Judy Smith, MD, chief, Spectrum Health Cancer Center. “We want our patients — women and men – to have convenient access to screenings that could potentially be life-saving.”

Meijer Marketing Team Member Deb Brower credits a Spectrum Health mobile mammography unit that toured the Meijer Corporate campus last year with saving her life.

“The bus saved my life,” Brower said. “It’s a big deal. I was 47 years old. There was absolutely no reason to think cancer would happen to me. But that’s the way it usually happens. We never think it will happen to us.”

Bringing this new mobile unit to a variety of Meijer stores is the latest way both Spectrum Health and the retailer are strengthening their commitment to health and wellness by providing customers with opportunities to lead healthier lifestyles.

“Meijer is committed to expanding convenient access to breast screenings,” Meijer Health and Wellness Director Jacquelyn DeBruler said. “This partnership gives us an opportunity to meet customers where they are.”

The mobile mammography unit will return to the Alpine Meijer from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 25 to conduct screenings.

This is Betty Ford Breast Care Services’ second mobile mammography unit. Both units, as well as all of the Betty Ford Breast Care Services locations, offer 3-D mammography in addition to traditional digital screening. The 3-D mammography, also known as tomosynthesis, has proven particularly effective in screening patients with dense breasts.

Betty Ford Breast Care Services, which has been designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology, performs more than 95,000 breast imaging studies and diagnostic services annually - more than any other organization in West Michigan. Approximately 3,000 of these screenings are provided through the mobile unit.

Patients are seen on the mobile units (spectrumhealth.org/mobileunit) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with walk-on patients welcome as scheduling allows. While insurance is accepted on mobile units, there are free mammograms provided for uninsured or under insured patients who qualify. For more information about this option, patients can call (616) 486-6022.