mammograms are back in kenai

And until now, women here had to leave town just to get one.

For almost ten years, if you lived in Kenai and needed a mammogram, you drove somewhere else to get it done. That just changed this month, and it's a real win for the whole peninsula.

Central Peninsula Hospital brought the screening back to its Kenai health center and cut the ribbon on July first. They also switched the lab work back on, so blood draws are local again, and they added bone density scans for the very first time.

The hospital chief put it about as plainly as you can. Early detection saves lives, and now more women can get that care close to home.

Here's the useful part. You don't need a doctor's order for a screening mammogram, though you do need a physician on file to get your results back. And they take the same plans as the hospital, including Medicare and Medicaid.

For a lot of folks out on the peninsula, that old drive was the whole reason a screening kept sliding to next year. Between the extra miles, the time, and the cost of getting there, it was one more hurdle that didn't need to exist.

This one came together with local donations and a record breaking fundraiser, which is about as Kenai as it gets. If you've been putting it off, it's a whole lot easier now that it's right here in town.

Now it's a whole lot easier to take care of your health without worrying so much about the trip.