Program makes it easier to get mammogram screening

Seven groups of women took a limousine ride from the Moseley Center parking lot to the Norville Breast Center at Alamance Regional Medical Center last month to have a free mammogram screening.  

                                                   There were a total of 37 faculty and staff members who participated in the “Take a Limo Ride for Your Life” program.

Lorraine Allen, director of accounting, has participated in the program since it started several years ago.

“It’s a neat way to make a rather unpleasant experience a little more palatable,” Allen said.

She was in the first group to depart from Moseley Center on the morning of March 12, and her screening didn’t take very long. She was back at Elon within an hour.

“It’s a very efficient process,” Allen said. “They get you in and out.”

The program is offered every March to Elon employees who have not  had a mammogram within a year. The tests are covered under Elon’s health insurance plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield.

While it is recommended that women between the ages of 40 and 69 get a mammogram screening every 12 to 24 months, many don’t make the time to do it and others just don’t like getting the screening done.

Riding to the Norville Breast Center in a limousine with a group of other women helps make it more positive experience.

“You get to meet folks you’d never meet on campus, and you get to visit with folks you know,” Allen said. “It’s just a neat way to do something you should do anyway.”