Safeway and Inland Imaging Join in the Fight Against Breast Cancer

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Inland Imaging, the region’s only network of comprehensive breast imaging centers, has announced it will work closely with area Spokane Safeway grocery stores to remind women of the importance of early breast cancer detection. As part of Inland Imaging’s Every Woman Can campaign, Safeway will showcase the stories of four local breast cancer survivors that are alive today because their cancer was found early through screening mammography.

The collaboration between Safeway and Inland Imaging is intended to encourage women over 40 to make time for their screening mammogram, an exam that could help save their life. In 2008 research determined only half of Spokane women were having an annual screening mammogram. The numbers, startling because of the proven importance of finding and treating breast cancer early, prompted Inland Imaging to start the Every Woman Can project to ensure every woman over 40 would have access to screening mammography.

Safeway has historically been a larger supporter in the fight against breast cancer, raising over $60 million over the past seven years for medical research to improve the detection and treatment of breast cancer. The funding has also made possible a small fleet of mobile screening units that make screening mammography tests more accessible and affordable to more women. Safeway was a major contributor to the Providence Women’s Health Coach that travels throughout the Inland Northwest providing screenings to rural communities. Inland Imaging breast imaging specialized radiologists read the exams from the mobile mammography coach.

The partnership between Safeway and Inland Imaging will run through the months of July and August. Safeway employees will where a pink t-shirt every Friday to serve as a reminder that “mammography saves lives.” The message is telling, considering Washington state ranks highest in the incidence of breast cancer and third in diagnosing late stage breast cancer.

In 2009, after launching the Every Woman Can campaign, Inland Imaging saw an 8% increase in screenings compared to the year before. Of the nearly 60,000 mammograms done in 2009 they found 512 breast cancers, a 14% increase from 2008. It is the goal of both Safeway and Inland Imaging to reinforce and better educate women regarding the importance of screening mammography, following the American Cancer Society’s recommendation that women have the exam starting at age 40.

About Safeway

Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,743 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $42 billion in 2007. Safeway supports a broad range of charitable and community programs and in 2007 donated more than $172 million, the equivalent of 20% of its net income, to causes such as cancer research, education, food banks and programs focused on assisting people with disabilities.