By ANGELA MARSHALL
Recognizing the high rates of breast cancer on Long Island and the need to help in the battle to increase chances for survival, Mercy Medical Center opened a Women's Imaging Center on Friday, Feb. 9.
In addition to hospital personnel, several breast cancer survivors and those continuing to fight were on hand to check out the new facility.
I am so thrilled because there is such a need for new technology and improved treatment, said Geri Barish, executive director of Hewlett House and president of 1 in 9, after the ceremony.
Sheri Goodman CSW., a hospital employee, had been running breast cancer support groups for years when her mammography showed an abnormality. Even to a woman schooled in the reality of cancer, this was a shock. I thought that I had been protected, she said. I was helping women.
Goodman praised the hospital saying that her cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment reaffirmed her work and her belief that mammographys save lives. I am a survivor.
The center allows for one-stop testing instead of sending patients to different areas of the hospital. Diseases such as breast and uterine cancers and osteoporosis can all be diagnosed in this area. There are two mammography stations where technologists take images of each breast using low-dose equipment to detect masses, tumors and other abnormalities.
Ultrasounds and a CT Scanner are also used to find abnormalities.
If a mass is found in the breast, the patient can receive a Stereotatctic biopsy right in the center. The new unit uses a sophisticated computer guidance system to lead the technician. This type of biopsy, which can be completed in less than an hour, is performed with local anesthesia and involves no hospitalization.
Mercy President Vincent DiRubbio said that he has wanted to provide female patients with a Stereotatctic Biopsy Unit since he came to the hospital in 1996.
Testing for osteoporosis is done through an x-ray technique that measures bone density. The measurement is used to determine the existence or likelihood of developing the disease.
Hospital representatives said dignity and privacy were some of the goals they hoped to attain for patients by building the new center. To that end, they have included two private dressing rooms and a separate waiting area.
DiRubbio said that the completion of the imaging center is just the first step in an effort to update all aspects of the hospital.
