Foundation donates to 3-D Mammography

Whitman Community Hospital Foundation Board President Linda Marler, radiology technician Carolyn Wilson, Foundation Board Vice President Mark Johnson, foundation coordinator Harless Hartman, radiology department manager Daniel Wood, and Whitman Hospital and Medical Center CEO Hank Hanigan during the check presentation.

Last year Whitman Hospital and Medical Center asked Whitman Community Hospital Foundation for help with the costs of a new tomosynthesis machine which produces 3-dimensional mammography images.

The Foundation donated $75,000 and started a fundraising campaign.

For each dollar donated, the Foundation pledged to match with a dollar to help fund the new equipment.

Donations began rolling in, and Keith and Julie Niehenke of Keith and the Hankers country band donated a benefit concert, which was in Schmuck Park.

Foundation members sold t-shirts and barbecued burgers and dogs.

Interested residents shared their experiences with breast cancer and the value of improved mammography in the Whitman County Gazette, and the community supported the project.

In total, the community donated $23,583.75, and with the addition of Foundation matching funds, a check for $47,167.50 was presented to the hospital.

The new equipment has been in use for several months, and doctors are very impressed with the images. Instead of producing two flat images like the older machines, tomosynthesis produces thin slices of images, each depicting one millimeter thick. Those thin “slices” make early detection much easier and lowers the rate of false positives. Whitman Hospital and Medical Center can also do stereoptic biopsies with 3-D, which is a big advantage to the physician and patient.