Now, City of Hope is launching its first mobile cancer screening unit with the aim of saving lives. It's as big as those giant trucks you see on the highway, but inside, there's life-saving cargo designed to deliver leading-edge cancer screening right to your doorstep.
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"It does mammograms, it has the exam room to do a physical exam, we do the lab work and we do vaccinations," said City of Hope's Senior Vice President of Patient Services Susan Brown.
She said this mobile unit is the first-of-its-kind to provide this level of preventive comprehensive screening. The staff is able to detect the signs of 15 different types of diseases.
"Screening for colon cancer, skin cancer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer," said Brown.
Screening rates have yet to recover since the pandemic, and gaps in screening are widest in communities of color and among the unhoused, places where the mobile unit can bring care.
"We wanted to make sure that we could offer services in places where people live, work, worship, shop. We partner with folks in the community, with church leaders, with federally-qualified health centers to get education out to the population," Brown said.
The staff sees patients regardless of insurance status. Nurse navigators connect patients to resources.
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"Every single one of those people who has some positive finding gets to wherever they need to go for follow-up and diagnosis," she said.
With all this sophisticated technology, Brown said what makes this program unique is not the machinery, but the people.
"It's that connection, and that's what city of hope really does well. It's that personal connection," Brown said.
City of Hope's first mobile unit will launch next week.
A second one is scheduled for later this year. Plans are underway for a third mobile screening clinic that can detect signs of lung cancer.