Roseland Community Hospital launches mobile breast cancer screening service in Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A new clinic on wheels is taking off on the Far South Side on Monday in an effort to make breast cancer screenings more accessible.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Roseland Community Hospital is launching its mobile mammography program to make sure everyone has access to proper screenings.

Vans from Roseland Community Hospital will travel to patients across the Chicago area to provide people access to the same breast cancer screenings as they can get at a hospital or doctor's office.

Experts said mobile breast cancer screening units will break down barriers for low-income families.

"We want to roll the wheels off of this thing. We want to bring it everywhere and anywhere; anywhere we can line up a group of women to get mammograms in one day. We're going to bring it to churhces, community centers, health fairs. Wherever we can bring this thing, we want to roll over that barrier," said Tim Egan, president of Roseland Community Hospital.

Experts said Black women have among the highest mortality rates for breast cancer.