St. Luke introduces digital mammography unit
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RONAN — Besides the usual autumn hues of red and gold, this October is vibrant with another less common color — pink.
Every October is marked by National Breast Cancer Awareness month. And it has become very popular to think pink in October.
From professional football players to hospital employees, Americans across the country are promoting awareness of the disease by sporting pink cleats, pink gloves and pink shirts.
Last Friday at St. Luke Community Hospital wasn’t any different.
Employees, volunteers and breast cancer survivors gathered, clad in fall’s hottest color to celebrate the opening of the hospital’s brand new digital mammography unit.
After a year of fundraising, the mood at the hospital on Friday morning was cheerful. The expensive piece of equipment will provide local women with the latest technology in detecting breast cancer.
“It’s a wonderful gift for the women of the Mission Valley,” St. Luke Community CEO Shane Roberts said.
“We love women,” he added, smiling.
The fundraising wasn’t without its obstacles, explained Roberts.
With the recession, “everybody feels that pinch,” he said.
But St. Luke employees and local community members pitched in to raise $108,777, while special fundraising events added another $42,167. With $185,000 in matching monies from a M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust grant, the hospital has raised $335,994 to purchase the equipment.
The hospital’s radiology department previously used an analog mammography unit, which for all intents and purposes was adequate. But with the new digital unit, radiologists can locate lumps in denser breasts, without multiple mammograms, call-backs or more hassle to patients.
The equipment also allows physicians to send mammograms electronically, seeking second opinions from colleagues anywhere in the world instantaneously.
Between digital and analog, the difference is night and day.
Though the digital equipment is rare and expensive, Roberts said Lake County should provide women access to the latest technology such as women who live near renowned medical facilities like the Mayo Clinic can access.
At the ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, breast cancer survivors Beth Bartholomew and Linda Cox noted that when it comes to health care, bigger isn’t always better.
After detecting a lump five years ago, Bartholomew was sent to University of Southern California Cancer Center. Extensive tests led doctors to believe the lump was benign. But they failed to test a second lump discovered during exams of the area.
Bartholomew left the cancer center with a cancerous tumor the size of an egg in her right breast.
Four years later at St. Luke Community Hospital, doctors discovered the cancerous lump and performed a mastectomy.
“I owe my life to this place,” Bartholomew said.
Cox added that it’s the humanity of the smaller hospital that gives it a medical edge. Medical professionals know their patients as neighbors, friends and relatives.
Cox found her own lump 12 years ago before women had the option of digital mammogram technology. After having an unsuccessful lumpectomy, the registered nurse insisted on a double mastectomy.
She wasn’t taking any chances with its return.
Now she admits that breast cancer survival helps her relate to her patients.
“As a nurse it gave me the (sensitivity) to talk with patients,” she explained.
She noted that after giving herself eight injections every day during her treatment, she feels empathy when injecting her patients with long, painful needles.
Though the ribbon cutting ceremony took place on Friday, the new digital mammography unit has been testing patients since Oct. 11. Until the second week in November, the department will be scheduling mammograms in the evening hours on Mondays and Tuesdays.
St. Luke Community Hospital also offers a free screening program for local uninsured women over the age of 40 with no history of breast cancer or implants.
For more information on donating to the mammography department, contact Gayle Wilhelm at 528-5324 or gwilhelm@stlukehealthnet.org.
