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New Women’s Imaging Center: Private, Supportive Place for Wellness

Construction of the new Women’s Imaging Center at Memorial Medical Center got under way the first week of May. The new center, featuring Ludington’s first digital mammography, enhanced with computer-aided detection, will open in the fall. The center’s other diagnostic procedures essential to women’s health will be ultrasound and bone densitometry.

The 2,700-square-foot facility, the only one of its kind in the area, is being built in the medical office building attached to the south side of the hospital complex. It will be a unique environment with a soothing décor and particular attention to privacy, including a separate waiting room for those dressed in hospital gowns for their imaging exams.

Each of the highly sophisticated diagnostic imaging machines will be housed in a separate, comfortably furnished room. There will be multiple bathrooms and changing rooms for the comfort of patients.

Imaging Services

In addition to state-of-the-art digital mammography, there will be the latest in breast and pelvic ultrasound scanning and imaging services, and bone densitometry osteoporosis screening with Dexascan.

Informational and educational services will be provided in a separate warm, comforting setting that will allow women to have all their questions privately answered.

The Women’s Imaging Center is designed to provide women with a medical diagnostic facility created specifically for them, where they can obtain highly specialized health care services from an all-female staff in a caring, compassionate environment.

These services are currently provided in different areas of the hospital. The new center will enhance privacy and convenience for patients, and also provide a wide array of efficiencies for the clinical staff and physicians, by using shared space, supplies, and equipment.

While the hospital has obtained excellent results from the best in film-based mammography, a premium is placed on evolving with emerging technology. One big advantage of digital mammography is the ability to enhance images in various ways through computer-aided analysis, without the need for additional imaging. Once the digital images are captured, the hospital’s radiologists can zoom in and out to examine specific areas. They can also change the contrast and even invert the image so white and black areas are reversed to better show tiny salt-grain-sized microcalcifications, often the earliest sign of breast cancer.

All this adds up to something women have requested—a private, supportive place, away from the hustle and bustle of the busy hospital, where they can take proactive steps toward their own wellness based on the diagnostic services they need.

Community Support

The Memorial Medical Center Foundation and its active volunteers have committed to raising $1.3 million to finance the new center. Their efforts have led to widespread community support and a variety of spontaneous and creative fundraising initiatives. The campaign is ongoing, with many opportunities for general support and specific gifts to name areas of the center.