by Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 12/98) - Any mammography unit purchased by Stanton Yellowknife Hospital should be available to all women in the NWT.

That's the position taken by Northern doctors' and nurses' groups.

According to David Butcher, president of the NWT Medical Association, it is the responsibility of Health and Social Services to ensure that there is universal access to breast-cancer screening in the north.

So far, said Butcher in an interview last week, this is not the case. "You only have access to mammography depending on where you live in the North."

Currently, the only centre in the NWT that has a mammography unit is Yellowknife. A new unit will cost $172,500, of which $146,000 in pledges has been generated through fundraising efforts the past year.

Butcher wants a mobile mammography unit purchased, one that could be transported to the regions. NWT Registered Nurses Association president Nell Vrolyk agrees a mobile mammography unit is what is needed, even if it only travels to the larger centres in the North.

"Stanton is supposed to be a regional and territorial hospital," said Vrolyk. "If this is the case, then women in those areas should have access to mammography either at Stanton or by a mobile unit."

For Rosemary Brown, the purchase of a mobile mammography unit would be a good solution.

The director of quality assurance and planning for the Keewatin Regional Health Board said that "any service that can be provided closer to home helps women by not having to make babysitting arrangements or loss of work. A mobile program would be a good idea in the Keewatin."

Vrolyk and Butcher both insist the issue of access to regular breast examinations is too important to be left to the discretion of individual health boards.

"Basically, the nurses' association and the doctors' association are in support of a program that is the responsibility of Health and Social Services, as opposed to each regional health board," said Vrolyk.

They said that as long as it is left up to each board, there will be no standardization and each region will have a different set of health priorities which may leave some communities without access to mammography.

"It's not high-profile here like it is in the South. It's a Caucasian-based awareness as opposed to an aboriginal-based awareness," says Vrolyk. "Just because we live in the North, it doesn't mean we're not entitled to that kind of care."

Both said Health Minister Kelvin Ng has placed the onus on the regional health boards.

Ng, however, argued that he is currently reviewing the process. "Once the regional working groups finalize their plans and address their needs, we can identify what issues there are and what actions need to be taken," said Ng.

Until things improve, Ng recommended that women take early detection into their own hands. "I'd encourage all women while in Yellowknife or the bigger centres with mammograms available to take advantage of it, especially in the higher-risk age group."