Angela Acevedo was trying her best to keep her leg steady on a recent Thursday morning at the Human Services Campus.

“Going to the doctor is always nervewracking,” she said.

She sat in the courtyard of the campus, a collection of nonprofits serving people experiencing homelessness near downtown Phoenix, waiting to be called into the clinic for her first-ever mammogram.

Circle the City, a nonprofit providing medical care for people experiencing homelessness in the Phoenix area, provided cancer screenings to more than 40 women Oct. 26 in partnership with Assured Imaging, a regional cancer screening provider. 

While this was not the first pop-up clinic providing mammograms Circle the City has hosted, it was the first at the Human Services Campus. More than 700 people stay overnight on the campus, and hundreds more filter through the facility each day for resources like meals, clothing and case management. That makes the campus well-suited for reaching new clients, said Wendy Adams, Circle the City’s community outreach supervisor. 

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“We try to make it very comfortable,” Adams said.

While Acevedo, 36, was nervous about her screening, she felt a sense of gratitude that she was finally getting the care she sought.

Acevedo said she had called Phoenix clinics in the past only to find that most services had wait times close to three months. Since cancer runs in her family, the screening would give her vital peace of mind, she said.

“I will get back on my feet, I know that,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting my health back.”

Routine mammograms are critical in preventing breast cancer deaths, as it is often treatable, according to the National Cancer Institute. About 13% of women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their life.

Women from the Human Services Campus and others traveling from shelters across the Phoenix area gathered under a shade structure decorated with metallic pink balloons. Circle the City staffers were there to talk patrons through any other needs they might have, such as housing application assistance or just someone to talk to. Some employees took care of pets while their owners were seen.

Genesis Marie Clinton said she came right after her breakfast on the Human Services Campus, where she’s lived for about 15 years. Women did not need an appointment before the day of the clinic, which is a big reason why Clinton came, she said.

“It’s nice they just randomly pop up,” she said. “Then I can pop up too.”

After being seen, patients were provided with personal care items like body lotion and hair products. In addition to the clinic, healthcare professionals talked the patrons through some of the ways they can check for breast cancer.

Circle the City’s mobile medical units, which provide other medical resources for people experiencing homelessness, move throughout the Phoenix area each month and can be located at circlethecity.org/mobile-outreach-calendar.

Helen Rummel covers housing insecurity and homelessness for The Arizona Republic. Reach her athrummel@gannett.com.

Coverage of housing insecurity on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Arizona Community Foundation.