From the outside, they look like recreational vehicles, but they’re actually filled with potential life-saving devices.

"This vehicle is set up to be basically an individual operation for us," said Tanner Holst, Franciscan Skemp's Director of Imagine Services.

Holst helped design the two mobile units that are set up for digital mammograms and bone mineral density testing.

"The patient lies right here on this table and this is essentially the gantry part of the station and it essentially scans the patient," Holst said, referring to the unit's exam room.

Holst says right now, if Franciscan Skemp patients need to get a bone mineral density test, they have to travel to the La Crosse clinic. And if patients need a mammogram, there are only a few of its clinics that have the analog unit. The Onalaska location is the only one that has the new, digital unit.

"One of the challenges with imaging services is getting this type of technology out to our clinical sites and a lot of patients aren’t able to get this exam because they don’t have access to it," Holst said.

Holst says the new mobile units will now bring the service to patients at its 10 regional clinics.

"The patients will still be checking in with the receptionist in the clinics," said Mobile Mammography and Bone Density Technician Jenny Wall. "We’ll go and get the patients and escort them out to mobile units. We’ll be doing the exam and then escort them back to the clinic.”

Wall has worked with the digital mammography machine at the Onalaska clinic since they got it about a year ago. She says having a digital mobile unit will make the exam process quicker and safer for patients.

“It is a service that gives less radiation to the patients," Wall said. "It also gives the radiologist a better and clearer picture to look at so they can manipulate the image to give them a better reading.”

The mobile unit designers know that screenings can be uncomfortable for patients. That’s why they worked to create a warm and friendly environment.

"This thing is really built to tolerate our cold winters and be a year-round unit," Holst said.

A unit that Holst says anyone in the community can use.

The first patient day for the mobile units is Monday, August 2. They will visit a different Franciscan Skemp clinic location every day during the week.