It’s a cause near and dear to any woman’s heart.
So it was only fitting that a group of local ladies chose the Digital Mammography Campaign as the recipient of their largest donation yet.
The Coldstream Women’s Institute has supported the Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundation campaign with a $50,000 donation.
“It’s our largest one we’ve done at once,” said CWI member Diane Toth.
The senior group of ladies has long supported various community initiatives in its 82-year history.
In fact, “the hospital is one of our regular recipients,” said President Rose Scheepbouwer.
But for women, this campaign hits particularly close to home.
The Digital Mammography Campaign would bring VJH in line with the times – putting the days of processing film in the dark room in the past and finally getting with the picture, quite literally.
Although the machine costs $700,000, it will cost local health care less in the long run.
“We will be able to do more cases because we won’t have that processing time,” said Laura Conzatti, chief mammo tech.
A clearer image will also make detection easier, which will in turn save more lives.
The VJH Foundation has committed to raising $386,400 through community donations (equipment costs for this project were recently reduced by $42,000), while the remainder will come from the hospital district.
If all goes well, the new machine will be up and running in 2015.
The importance of regular mammograms is something all women over 40 are reminded not to miss.
“We can detect cancer structure the size of a grain of sand and we could see it two to 10 years before you’d even feel it so we’re saving lives,” said Conzatti, who helped perform approximately 6,700 screenings last year.
Women with no history of breast cancer are urged to come every other year after 40 and 50, while those with family history of the disease should be screened every year.
