Mammography service interrupted
St. Luke’s intends to provide temporary service with mobile
imaging units from its Breast Cancer Detection Center (BCDC) located outside Blaine
County.
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
The Wood River Medical Center has suspended mammography services from Oct.
5 until the scheduled opening of St. Luke’s new hospital Nov. 19, the medical
center’s CEO, Jon Moses, announced yesterday.
Mammography is an X-ray imaging technique doctors use to detect breast
tumors before they can be seen or felt.
In a one-page press release, Moses stated that St. Luke’s intends to
provide temporary service with mobile imaging units from its Breast Cancer Detection
Center (BCDC) located outside Blaine County.
The mobile units will be in Sun Valley on Oct. 20, 23, 25 and 27 to
provide mammograms, the statement said. Dates for November are not yet available.
Other options for women needing mammograms before Nov. 19 include clinics
in Twin Falls and other BCDC locations, the release stated.
The suspension of services is due to a problem with a film processor,
according to the release.
Moses acknowledged that new imaging equipment has already been purchased
for the new hospital.
The hospital won’t use that new equipment now, however, because
setting it up and then moving it to the new hospital again in about a month is not
feasible, the statement quotes breast care coordinator Janet Askew as saying.
Repairing the old equipment isn’t possible because of its age, Askew
said in the release.
In a separate press release yesterday, Moses stated that St. Luke’s
plans for all critical hospital services to be constantly available throughout the
transition from the old hospitals to the new hospital.
