Like many others, Evanston resident Gwendolyn Parsons knows the risks of breast cancer.

“I just want to be aware,” said Parsons, who has never been screened by the Evanston Health Department. “Breast cancer is in my family and it’s been almost three years since I’ve (been screened).”

The health department offered free mammograms to women 40 or older on Tuesday. In addition to the 13 women scheduled, there were five women on the waiting list. The women were screened in a county-owned and county-run van that was parked in front of the Evanston Health and Human Services Department, 633 Howard Street.

“Our goal is to provide health care to people who normally would not receive it,” Health Programs Coordinator Zollie Webb said.

According to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, an estimated 212,920 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2006. The rate of new cases has been increasing by more than 1 percent each year since the 1940s. However, diagnoses during the early stages of cancer have increased since the early 1980s, while the diagnoses of later stages have decreased or remained stable.

The city has provided mammograms twice each year for the past four years and also provides prostate and kidney screenings. Webb said the city usually gets a good turnout of women for mammograms and often has a waiting list. The mammograms are only for women who have never had breast cancer and who have not been screened in the past year, Webb said.

“Sometimes (the women) will come back and want to check it again,” Webb said, referring to women who have had breast cancer in the past. “We tell them to go to their doctor.”

The city will offer mammograms again on October 18.

Reach Annie Martin at [email protected].