Making Strides: A group of longtime friends are making mammograms fun

If you have ever had a mammogram, you know they are not on any woman’s favorite activity list.

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. There is a group of women who never miss their yearly exams. In fact, they look forward to it.

Every year Siena, Glenna, Mary, Sabra, Kelly, and Cindy get their annual mammogram together.

They call themselves the “Yaya’s.” A name they say they took from a movie they saw together during their 25 years of friendship.

Since the pandemic began, fewer women are keeping up with their screenings across the country, but these women say that by going together each year no one gets a free pass.

“I think we all look out for each other,” says Dr. Siena Alford, a family medicine doctor who joins the group for her yearly mammogram.

Along with a visit to the imaging center, the “Yaya’s” also have a post-mammogram celebration.

Group member, and doctor, Siena Alford is also the group’s physician, which makes their bond even stronger – inspiring their motto live longer together.

The “Yaya’s” encourage every woman to keep up with their mammograms and make a day of it like they do each year.