WHO WE ARE

Francine’s Friends is an all-volunteer 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, providing mobile mammography in partnership with Parkview Health and Breast Diagnostic Center. It was started by a group of local businesswomen and community leaders who were determined to make early detection of breast cancer available to every patient in Fort Wayne and the surrounding area. Francine’s Friends raised the funds to purchase a mobile mammography coach and continues to raise funds each year to help support the program.

Francine’s Friends is named for Francine Schubert, the wife of a local physician, who died of breast cancer. Francine’s untiring approach to life and living was an inspiration to all who knew her. She was devoted to her family and friends and had a wonderful outlook on life. When cancer came, Francine fought bravely and never let cancer appear to have the upper hand, but she lost her fight in September 2002.

Francine’s Friends began in 2005, and in the first three years, more than 8,000 screenings were given. Of the women screened, 32 percent had never had a mammogram or had not had one in the preceding three years. The coach now provides mammography access to patients at more than 600 sites in northeast Indiana.

To schedule a mammogram, call 260-266-8120. To schedule a visit of the mobile mammography coach at your site, it is an electronic request to the email address: mobilemammo@parkview.com.

 

MOBILE MAMMOGRAPHY

The Francine’s Friends Mobile Mammography coach brings high-quality, lifesaving mammography screening to patients across northeast Indiana at locations more convenient to their homes or workplaces.

The interior of the 40-foot-long motor coach is designed for complete privacy. X-ray technologists from Breast Diagnostic Center staff the coach, which is furnished withthe same FDA-approved and Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA)-approved equipment as the physical sites of Breast Diagnostic Center.

Screening mammography through this mobile service is for women who:

• are age 40 and older and have not had a mammogram in the past 12 months

• are insured or uninsured

Many insurances plans are accepted, and funding is available to cover expenses for patients who do not have sufficient financial resources.