Pioneer Times file photo/Joseph CyrHOULTON — Sue McLaughlin said Thursday that the arrival of digital mammography at Houlton Regional Hospital in March 2012 has been a “game changer” for patients who use their services.
“Prior to the hospital acquiring digital mammography, many people around here went to Bangor to receive services because the hospitals and other health care providers had digital mammography and we did not,” the radiology manager explained. “We had to take images on film and have them processed, and then wait for them to be developed. That simply did not produce as good an image.”
All of that changed five years ago when the Houlton Regional Health Services Foundation raised $285,000 for the machine, and employees at the hospital raised $60,000.
“Now, we are seeing 2,600 patients a year,” said McLaughlin as October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month wound down. “We are providing a much higher level of service. All of the images go immediately to computers and they are read immediately. We are finding more early cancers and calcifications, and the good news is that early detection leads to a better result in most cases.”
File photo/Joseph CyrMcLaughlin said she understands that getting called back because the physician wants to take another image “causes anxiety for most women.”
“But our call back rates are only between 10 and 13 percent,” she said. “They shouldn’t be anxious.”
The radiology manager stressed that prevention is still the best measure in saving lives.
“All women should have a mammogram when they reach age 40, and earlier if they have a family history of breast cancer,” she said.
She added that it is impossible to measure the impact that this machine has had on the community.
“I believe it really is helping local women live longer,” she said.
