Mammograms are offered at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in the Texas Medical Center. They are also offered on M.D. Anderson's self-contained 38-foot van containing a LoRad MIV mammography unit. The van travels to various workplace sites where employees and clients can jump on board the van for a mobile mammogram.

Hartford Hospital's Take the Time mammogram van travels to clinics, churches, senior centers, and other Connecticut locations where women can easily access life-saving screenings. The University Breast Health Center in Augusta, Georgia is home to a mobile mammography program that reaches underserved women unable to report for on-site visits. Lexington Medical Center in South Carolina offers mobile mammograms. Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization affiliates offer their own traveling screening services. And a mobile mammogram service was offered on Kent State University's campus during this October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Mammograms on the go are no different than mammograms at fixed locations. They are high quality, safe, confidential -- and typically speedier than the traditional screening procedure. Often, a woman knows before she departs that her image is technically accurate. She can ask questions and receive information, and she can expect a prompt call from the radiologist or her physician who will discuss results. Sometimes, mobile mammograms take as little as 20 minutes to complete.

Mammograms are recommended for women age 40 and older and for women with a personal or family history of breast cancer. As with all medical services, there are barriers -- such as awareness, cost, transportation, convenience -- that prevent access for some people. Mobile mammograms help drive away barriers. They allow more women more access to the best tool for identifying breast cancer in its earliest form.

Roll on, mammogram vans!

I love the terminology used by those behind the scenes at Hurricane Voices. This is where I first read the words breast cancer dancer and where individuals have gathered to advance the rebellion against breast cancer. The content on this site is powerful, edgy, and truly inspiring -- it incites public action. And it makes me want to jump up and do something -- now. To break down the barriers to progress in pursuit of the causes and cures for breast cancer -- which is the whole purpose of Hurricane Voices.

Hurricane Voices began because of one woman -- Lois Egasti, a wife and mother living with metastatic breast cancer. Lois, who passed away on April 15, 2003, knew she was not alone and felt the need to take a stand against the disease. So she put her urge into action and formed this not-for-profit organization. And in just four years, a great community of voices emerged -- voices that have helped raise support and participation in far-reaching programs and events.

Hurricane Voices offers on its website a family reading list, a regular newsletter, an empowering overview of breast cancer and its statistics, and a sampling of various myths surrounding breast cancer. Hurricane Voices provides direction for involvement in unique conferences -- such as When a Parent Has Cancer: Strengthening the School's Response which helps school systems support families affected by parental cancer and Breast Cancer: Truth & Consequences, a conference that challenges the status quo concerning breast cancer. Hurricane Voices initiates thought-provoking public awareness campaigns and strives to inform the public that the disease we call breast cancer is a very serious illness.

Every day, more people are being diagnosed. Every day, more people are dying. Yet we are not beating this disease -- in fact in the time it takes to brush our teeth or drink a cup of coffee, another person has died of breast cancer. And this is what Hurricane Voices wants us to know. This and the fact that well-meaning, misconstrued survival rates in the 90 percentiles only extend for five years. And five years is just not enough.

Powerful -- that's what Hurricane Voices is -- powerful. And each of us can contribute our own power to this organization by becoming a Hurricane Voice. So speak up -- by simply clicking here.

Caregivers are affected by cancer in their own unique and special ways. And those of us who have never been cancer caregivers and those of us who are patients receiving the care will never really know how it feels to walk in caregiver shoes -- until we do it ourselves.

Dr. Mitchell Luftig has done it himself. And after traveling a dark and unwanted journey of caring for his wife with breast cancer, he realized that he had learned a thing or two -- and he learned that he could share a thing or two. So he wrote a book, Be a Hero To The Woman You Love When She Gets Sick, and he speaks openly about his role as caregiver -- and his role at the time as father of twin high school daughters and husband of 20 years and clinical psychologist too. The whole ordeal turned his world upside down and he hopes that his story helps others -- primarily men -- who find themselves in a lonely place with the daunting job of caring for the people they love. As a psychologist, Luftig has good insight. And he wishes to help minimize the psychological barriers that prevent men from effectively caring for loved ones during times of serious illness.

Luftig shares in his book his realization that while he cannot repair and fix all hard times, he does have some important tools. And his power tools are love, support, and understanding. He has learned to sew joy out of rough cloth. He understands that he cannot shelter his family members from bad times, but he can shoulder their burden. And he now appreciates that all things are not so bad when measured against the yardstick of a life-threatening disease like cancer. Luftig's whole collection of wisdom and lessons and advice fill his book -- and bits and pieces also appear in periodic articles in Coping magazine. It's worth the read -- and the journey starts here.