Julia Griffin knew her insurance would cover the cost of an annual mammogram, but she was shocked when she got hit for an $85 office visit to get it.

"I said, 'I'm going to go find the van,' " she said. The "van" is the University Hospital Breast Health Center Mobile Mammography Unit. Mrs. Griffin found it Tuesday morning in the parking lot of Barney's Pharmacy in south Augusta. And she found new equipment inside and a new look inside and out.

The mobile unit now features digital mammography, which lets the technologist see the image instantly and cuts down on the number of callbacks that result because the image isn't clear, said Pam Anderson, the cancer services program coordinator. And the overall picture quality is better, she said.

"Digital is supposed to reduce the number of callbacks, because it is a better picture, and it's especially good in younger women with dense breast tissue," Mrs. Anderson said.

The digital system also uses computer software to mark suspicious spots to help the radiologist, she said.

"The (software) will come on and say, 'Look here, here, here,' " Mrs. Anderson said. "It's just like having a second look at it," said Sue Sisco, the manager of the Women's Diagnostic Center at Doctors Hospital.

She knows of a couple of cases already where the software alerted doctors to a trouble spot.

"I have more confidence in (digital)," Mrs. Sisco said. "We're seeing more information than we did with the traditional way."

The mobile unit is also trying to make it more comfortable for women to get mammograms, Mrs. Anderson said. For instance, the unit uses MammoPad, which looks like a thin layer of foam padding that goes on the bottom plate of the machine where the breast is placed.

"Instead of the breast being on this cold plate, now it's on this cushion," she said. "It's supposed to be a softer mammogram."

That can help alleviate fears some women have about the screening.

"A lot of women won't come because they think it hurts," she said. The unit makes it more convenient for them to get over their fears, and it does attract a lot of first-timers, Mrs. Anderson said.

"I think we probably get a lot more, because we're going to them," she said. "It's convenient. And women are about convenience."

To find out where the mobile unit will be, visit University's Web site at universityhealth.org/body.cfm?id=37888&action=detail&ref=897.

Many make return visits, which was the case for Deborah Knotts, who made her fourth trip to the unit Tuesday. Afterward, she admired the newly redone exterior.

"Do you like it now? Do you think it looks better?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"Yeah," Ms. Knotts said.

"Got a face lift," Mrs. Anderson joked.

And much more.