DECATUR – Decatur Memorial Hospital will provide free breast cancer screenings for women who are uninsured or underinsured during October as part of Mammogram Mondays.

The screenings will be offered from 2 to 4 p.m. each Monday in October in the Decatur Memorial Hospital Breast Center, 302 W. Hay St., Suite 117. To schedule an appointment, call 217-876-2320.

Appointments are required; no walk-ins are available. While the nonprofit hospital will offer breast cancer screenings year-round to women who need them, hospital officials said they try to build awareness during October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Educational materials, including information on general breast health and how to perform breast self-exams, will be available. Funding for Mammogram Mondays is provided by the Decatur Memorial Hospital Mammography Initiative Program.

The National Cancer Institute recommends that all women age 40 or older have screening mammograms every one to two years.  Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States.

Free mammograms will be offered at all five Memorial Health System hospitals to qualifying women in Decatur, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Springfield and Taylorville throughout October.