PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway here and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance unveiled a Safeway-sponsored mobile mammography van at a Seattle Safeway store yesterday. Safeway funded the $1 million cost of the van and its first two years of operation with the proceeds from a month-long breast cancer fund-raising campaign. The mobile screening vehicle is a 40-foot, self-contained clinic with the digital screening technology recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to detect breast cancer more effectively than the traditional mammography screening, Safeway said. The new mobile unit will be operated by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance in partnership with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle. The van will be staffed by a certified mammography technologist, an assistant and a driver serving up to 30 patients a day. The van contains one mammography unit, a reception area, two dressing rooms and a waiting room. "The van is compelling evidence that our breast cancer fund-raising efforts are paying off by providing access to leading-edge health services in the communities where we operate," said Steve Burd, Safeway chairman, president and chief executive officer.

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