By TIM BULLARD

CONWAY -- Low-income families in Horry County were served recently at St. James Church by the mobile health unit of the S.C. Primary Health Care Association of Columbia. The van visited Conway after a stop in Myrtle Beach.

The Hollings Cancer Center of the Medical University of South in Charleston is responsible for the service. The unit is a 40-foot van that provides state-of-the-art cancer screening and prevention education to the medically underserved and socioeconomically disadvantaged.

It was developed by the Medical University of South Carolina in cooperation with the four hub site community health centers which are part of the S.C. Care Association and the S.C. Association of Human Service Agencies.

Visitors to the unit receive personal attention specific to their needs, combined with the most advanced technological system for cancer prevention education, early detection and health maintenance counseling.

A worker on the van said that clients are asked if they have health insurance, and that the service is for people without insurance.

The mission of the unit "is to provide access to the most advanced tools to fight cancer and empower South Carolinians to become intrinsically involved in their own health care management," a brochure stated.

For more information about the unit, call (843) 876-1959 or the hub site nearest you.

The association can be reached at 3710 Landmark Drive, Suite 114, Columbia, SC 29206 or at (803) 738-9881.

The hub sites include offices in Ridgeland, Orangeburg, Conway, and Charleston.