Public health efforts helped by Mammovan

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2000 | 9:06 a.m.

Dema Guinn, wife of Gov. Kenny Guinn, joined her husband, former Rep. John Ensign and other dignitaries in announcing the arrival of the mobile health center. The vehicle then traveled to stops in Reno, Fernley and Yerington.

Providing mammograms, clinical breast exams, pap smears, cancer screening and other vital health services, the van will target people without health insurance who live in poor urban neighborhoods and across Nevadas vast rural regions. It will be based in Las Vegas for six months during the winter and in the Reno-Carson area the remainder of the year.

While on the road it will provide services to remote areas where health-care options are few, said Kenneth McBain, executive director of Nevada Rural Health Centers.

"It's been a long time in coming. The Mammovan for Nevada is finally a reality," McBain said.

"That van is not just metal and tires and machines. That van is going to represent hope," said Ensign, who secured a $500,000 federal grant to pay for the van shortly before he left Congress.

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