During the coming year, MGM Mirage will make the Hope Coach — Nevada Cancer Institute's 40-foot-long mobile mammography clinic — available to employees at the company's resorts for 120 days.

The free service is part of MGM Mirage's employee wellness program.

Cynthia Kiser Murphey, MGM Mirage's senior vice president of human resources, said the company is reaching beyond offering free mammography to its employees.

In 2008, employees will be given one "wellness day" annually to have preventative care checkups.

"At the end of the day, yeah, health care costs are down," she said.

The real motivation is catching disease early and increasing screening rates in Nevada, Kiser Murphey said. She expects other employers to follow suit.

"We need to make a difference and take a proactive stance," she said.

Nevada Cancer Institute provides the coach to organizations throughout the state.

Nevada Cancer Institute President and Chief Operating Officer Sandy Murdock said MGM Mirage should be commended for its efforts to emphasize breast cancer screening and awareness.

MGM Mirage hosted a reception introducing the Hope Coach to its executives and employees Sept. 25 at the company's Signature Tower 2.

Days later, the cancer institute had a celebration of its own, as its kickoff of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

"This is not only a community debut, but a call to action," Murdock said at the Cancer Institute's Hope Coach ribbon cutting on Oct. 1.

The coach looks like a truck and trailer on the outside but like a modern medical clinic on the inside.

Once inside, participating women start by watching a video detailing the process.

After changing into a smock, the woman heads to the rear of the cabin, where a digital mammography machine waits.

A digital image is sent to a computer in the bus.

With early detection, the chance for survival increases, said Punam Mathur, senior vice president of corporate diversity and community affairs for MGM Mirage.

"There is a very strong chance with early detection of prevailing over cancer," she said.

MGM Mirage employs 70,000 people at its properties in Nevada and outside the state. MGM Mirage owns 10 resorts on the Strip and also owns the Railroad Pass near Boulder City as well as a casino in Jean.

About 15,500 MGM Mirage women employees are eligible for the free screenings.

The Nevada Cancer Institute Hope Coach, parked outside of MGM Grand Signature Tower 2, offers free on-site mammograms to MGM Mirage employees. Photo by Leila Navidi

While employees who take advantage of the mammogram program benefit from potentially discovering breast cancer earlier than they otherwise would have, and because the mammograms are free to employees, the screenings are also a positive for the company.

Catching breast cancer in its early stages could reduce the company's medical spending.

"Sure there's an economic benefit," Mathur said. "The employees win and the company wins as well."

In Nevada, 52 percent of women age 40 and older have had a recent mammography and clinical breast exam, according to 2007 statistics released by the American Cancer Society.

The society recommends that all women 40 and above receive an annual mammography and clinical breast exam.

Separately, the Culinary Union, the state's largest union, is also partnering with the Nevada Cancer Institute to make the Hope Coach available to its members for another 120 days of the year.

Provisions will be made to make the mammograms available to shift workers who aren't able to visit the coach during normal business hours, said Culinary Health Fund spokeswoman Bobbette Bond.

There are 23,500 women Culinary members who are 40 years and older working on the Strip, Bond said. She said only 41 percent of them had a mammogram in the last 12 months, far below the Culinary's initial goal of 75 percent.

Ultimately, the Culinary would like to have all its female membership in the age group have a mammography every year.

The free mammograms for MGM Mirage employees will be held at the Hope Coach's temporary home at the MGM Grand until November.

The Culinary has reached out to Boyd Gaming Corp. and Harrah's Entertainment to bring the Hope Coach to their properties to offer the free screenings to Culinary workers employed there, Bond said.

The Nevada Cancer Institute is providing the Hope Coach free of charge to MGM Mirage and to the Culinary.