To slow down the spread of COVID-19 (or novel coronavirus), and to ensure health resources are available to support urgent needs of all Albertans, AHS Screening Programs is asking you to delay all of your elective cancer screening activities at this time. This includes routine screening mammography, Pap and FIT testing. While we feel that cancer screening is an important part of your health care, we also know that the risk of contracting COVID-19 is real and it’s important to avoid public gatherings.

If you have any NEW symptoms, such as a new lump in your breast, significant weight loss without trying, bloody stools, OR ANY OTHER CONCERNS, please call your healthcare provider. You may be asked if you’ve had any recent travel or any symptoms that may be associated with COVID-19.   

We want to reassure all Albertans that any investigations to follow-up on any suspected cancer that are already underway will continue as will all surgeries or scheduled cancer treatments.

This decision will support social distancing measures, and allows us to prioritize patients with the most urgent needs, preserve and protect the frontline workforce, and create capacity in the healthcare system. We know some of you may feel anxious with delaying cancer screening at this time. We encourage anyone who is feeling anxious with this change to contact the Alberta Mental Health Helpline toll-free at 1-877-303-2642. This helpline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Other toll-free supports can be found on My Health Alberta.

Together we can help to flatten the COVID-19 curve.

Due to the evolving COVID-19 situation, beginning March 16, 2020, AHS Screening Programs will only be sending abnormal results letters to eligible Albertans. All other letters, including invitation, normal results and reminder letters, will be postponed until further notice. If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-866-727-3926.

Service on the go – Mobile cancer screening program saving lives
Story by Heather Kipling, AHS

Though she admits it’s not one of the most comfortable things she has ever done, May Ann Swanson is quick to point out that going for a screening mammogram has certainly been among the most important.

Now a regular patient when Screen Test’s mobile mammography units roll into Wainwright, Swanson couldn’t be happier with the service that provided early detection of breast cancer and gave her the best chances of a full recovery.

“I go every year and I swear by it,” says Swanson, who had both her mother and mother-in-law before her have lumps in their breasts detected by a mammogram. Swanson began using Screen Test’s mobile units in 2002. Only four years later, a screening mammogram detected the small lump in her breast, which was already spreading. “When the surgeon removed the lump, it also required the removal of 12 lymph nodes. If it hadn’t been found then, it could have been much worse for me.”

Providing early detection of breast cancer and other breast health concerns is at the very heart of Alberta Health Services’ Screen Test, which operates under the umbrella of the Alberta Breast Cancer Screening Program. Screen Test offers screening mammograms at two fixed locations — one in Edmonton and one in Calgary — and uses mobile units to visit more than 120 rural communities annually.

The mobile units are 53-foot semi-trailers, each one a self-contained screening facility complete with a reception room, dressing rooms and an exam room equipped with state-of-the-art digital mammography units.

“For women in rural communities, particularly those who do not have easy access to mammography facilities, the mobile units give them the ability to get the same service as women in larger centres without having to travel,” says Screen Test manager Joan Hauber. “We’re able to increase the number of women actually having regular mammograms and the more women who have regular mammograms, the better chance we have to detect cancers early. And early detection is so important. It can reduce the chance of dying from breast cancer by 30 per cent.”

Screening mammography is the only tool that has been proven to significantly reduce the mortality from breast cancer. A screening mammogram can detect a breast cancer up to two to three years before it would otherwise be detected by the patient or their doctor.

Screen Test targets women 50 to 74; when women in Alberta turn 50, they receive an invitation letter to undergo a screening mammogram. It is recommended women in the target age have a screening mammogram at least every two years.

For breast cancer survivors like Swanson, it’s a recommendation she champions. “It’s not the most comfortable thing you’ll ever do but it is so important for your health. It gives you the best chances,” she says. “I can’t say ‘thank you’ enough for what Screen Test did for me.”

Learn more about Screen Test.

January 2019

The new resource, Informed Decision Making and Breast Density booklet gives important information on what breast density is and why it matters for breast cancer screening. This resource shares pros and cons of screening to help women make informed decisions about whether or not screening is right for them. View this resource.