POLAND, Ohio - Women in need of mammograms will have an extra resource to turn to in the Valley. 

The Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center and Mercy Health celebrated the opening of mammography services in Poland on Wednesday. 

Inside the office of Poland Imaging, near Clingan Road, sits the newest addition to the Joanie Abdu family. 

The office will now be able to offer mammogram services to any woman, regardless of their ability to pay, through Joanie's Promise. 

The location is one more step forward in comprehensive breast cancer care in the Valley. 

The Poland Imaging mammography center will join in the Joanie Abdu Center in Downtown Youngstown, as well as the Mobile Mammography Van, in helping to combat breast cancer. 

Dr. Rashid Abdu, the founder of the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center, says breast cancer remains one of the most common cancers in the Valley. 

"Nationally, and the Valley is no different, one in eight women will contract breast cancer in their lifetime," said Dr. Abdu. "The difference is the mortality, the death rate in the Valley is far higher than state and even national averages." 

Kathy Cook, the President of St. Joseph's Hospital in Warren, said that if it's caught in time breast cancer is entirely curable. 

But one of the problems is finding the disease in time. Which makes 3D mammography and expanding services like those in Poland particularly important. 

3D mammography is the latest technology, which allows radiologists to examine the scans slice by tiny slice, to find abnormalities and decrease the chance of having to call a patient back for a nerve-wracking second test. 

Once the test is complete and the results are back, women who need additional support, or whose tests indicate there might be cancer, can be instantly referred to specialists in downtown. 

"Within 24 hours they're seeing a specialist, they have a navigator, a breast care navigator," said Cook. "We have a navigator with the women to make sure they don't get lost in the system because a diagnosis of cancer is a scary thing."

The expansion will provide closer care for women in southeastern Mahoning County, and Dr. Abdu said the hope is that the more women who get preventative care will lessen the rate of breast cancer in the Valley. 

Which is why Dr. Abdu said he hopes to expand to as many satellite locations as possible in the future. 

"I believe that every woman deserves the best care she can get," Dr. Abdu said. 

Screenings at the Joanie Abdu Mammography Center at Poland Imaging will be conducted Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Appointments can be made by calling 330-480-2555.