(Photo courtesy Swedish Health)
That’s the Swedish mobile mammography truck. Even if you’re not a patient, you probably noticed it out in front of the former Swedish location at 3400 California SW many times. As we’ve reported, Swedish moved out of that building this summer. And that’s when the truck trouble began.
Swedish mobile mammography program lead Annaleis Ortiz tells WSB they got permits for the truck to park by the new clinic location at 4100 SW Alaska. But – “the neighborhood did not agree with us in that spot. We ended up getting many threatening complaints to our staff, mobile coach and event patients. They did not like us taking their parking spots or the sound of the generator. Due to the safety of the patients, staff, and equipment we pulled the plug on bringing the coach to W.Seattle. We cancelled many, many appointments and made a lot of women unhappy. The last thing I want to do is take an important health screening away from a community that benefits so much. On average we saw 85-120 woman a month, finding countless cancers in an early stage.”
Ortiz drove around West Seattle looking for someplace else to park the truck so patients could get mammograms in West Seattle – an especially valuable service with the bridge closed. “I finally found a location outside the YMCA on Snoqualmie and went through the channels to get approval to park outside their location. Last week we had our first visit in a couple months. It had great success and we were thrilled to be back. We only have approval to visit on Mondays. We are in need of an alternate location … We have over 100 women on a waitlist to be seen, many who do not want to make the trek into downtown to be seen due to bridge closure and traffic issues. A lot of these women are older and benefit greatly from our service.”
Here’s what she’s looking for: “A business with ample parking, not too close to high-rise apartments or condos … willing to host us a few times a month. Our tractor trailer is about 42+ feet long and usually occupies 8-10 parking spaces for setup.” Two other criteria: Level surface, and: “We need to have access to a bathroom for our staff as we do not have a restroom on board.” If you have a business or institution that might be able to host the truck, contact the Swedish West Seattle clinic at 206-320-3399.
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