Connecticut women have the second highest rate of breast cancer in the country, according to Liane Philpotts, director of the Yale Breast Center, who spoke at the morning ceremony. She said one in eight American women are diagnosed with breast cancer, while only 1 in 33 dies of it. Early detection is the key to that second equation, and to reducing mortality even more.

New Haven Health Director Bill Quinn (pictured) said the digital system will help reduce the disparity in outcomes between black women and white women who are diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, he said, even though the two groups get breast cancer at the same rates, black women die younger, believed to be in part due to poorer screening. “The digital is more efficient; it’s very difficult in some cases to pick up cancer [through screening], and this will be a more efficient way of doing it.”

Gary Spinner, chief operating officer of the health center (pictured in front of the van), welcomed people to the ribbon-cutting in the center’s parking lot. He said it’s an exciting project because it will provide early screening and detection of breast cancer for women throughout the greater New Haven area, “and it will do that for women regardless of their ability to pay. So this is really a special and needed service that will enhance access.”

According to the news release from the hospital, digital mammography stores an electronic image of the breast directly in a computer, allowing the recorded data to be magnified for further evaluation. Though it still requires compression of the breast to shoot the image (to the squirms and dismayed laughter of several of the women present), two women familiar with the new system said the amount of compression may be a little less, and the duration of time the breast is compressed is definitely shorter.

One of the highlights of the ceremony was the testimony from breast cancer survivor (and former Westville Alderwoman) Nancy Ahearn (pictured with Bishop Woods Alderman Gerald Antunes). She spoke of being diagnosed 19 years ago on a visit to an earlier version of the mammography van; she choked back tears as she told how her mastectomy enabled her to live to see her grandchildren and enjoy the past 19 years of her marriage.

The van is the only one of its kind in New England. It operates Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. To make an appointment, call the Yale-New Haven Breast Center at 688-6800 or visit www.ynhh.org or call the Hill Health Center at 503.3094.