News : Fund-raising efforts bring mammography unit to VGH; service starts Jan. 18

Monica Stark, Maria Davis and Sarah Kindschi pose with the new mammography unit at VGH.

For well over a year, Vinton area residents, high school sports teams, breast cancer survivors and most recently, Tree of Lights donors, have helped provide the funding needed to bring Virginia Gay Hospital its own mammography service.

"We exceeded our goal," said Imaging Services Director Monica Stark. The fund-raising covers the the cost of training the VGH technologists to operate the unit, as well as preparing the new mammography room in the Imaging Services Department.

Stark said she expects to begin offering the service Jan. 18. At first, the mammography service will be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the option of expanding to more days if demand increases.

VGH technologists Maria Davis and Sarah Kindschi will be operating the machine, along with another person who will be on contract with the hospital. The procedure takes about 30 minutes, but the appointments will be scheduled 45 minutes apart.

The new unit is fully digital; it even uses fingerprint identification for each technologist who operates the machine to sign in. The unit is designed for maximum comfort, and also for patients in wheelchairs.