Siteman Cancer Center gets new pink vehicle to help detect breast cancer

By Julie Randle, St. Louis Suburban Journals, October 31, 2006

As a cancer survivor, Laura Bailey feels a special connection to the Siteman Cancer Center''s new mammography van.

Though she isn''t a breast cancer victim, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin''s lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system.

"I think it looks great. I''m sure it will definitely turn heads when it drives by," said Bailey, 33.

Bailey, an illustrator, was given the task of designing the faces of women who visit Siteman Cancer Center''s mammography van for breast cancer screenings. The Dutchtown resident created portraits of 12 characters that line both sides of the Siteman Cancer Center''s new pink van.

The portraits depict women of various ages, races and backgrounds. For the project, Bailey was given a list of qualities the characters needed and from there she let the creative process take over.

"The purpose was to appeal to all walks of life - all economic groups, racial backgrounds and ages," she said.

This also brought a challenge. It was difficult trying to depict women without type casting or generalizing, she said.

Bailey drew and painted the final version of her characters on a Masonite panel, which was eight feet long by two feet high. From there it was taken to a graphic art business and a process was done to put it on the van.

"I tend to do caricature in my illustrations," she said.

For this job, she couldn''t go overboard with the technique, but the characters contain some of that animation.

"They didn''t want it to look super real, so they didn''t go with photography," Bailey said.

The Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine''s mobile mammography program has been in existence for 20 years. The mobile mammography vehicle conducts nearly 8,000 screenings per year.

"It''s a community vehicle," she said.