Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr

HOULTON — After more than a year of raising funds, Houlton Regional Hospital is now the proud owner of state-of-the-art digital mammography equipment.
The hospital unveiled its new technology last Thursday when it invited those who donate to the cause to come see the new digital mammography equipment and patient room. A light lunch was also provided by the hospital.
“We’re pleased to introduce our new digital mammography machine and room to the community,” said Tom Moakler, CEO for Houlton Regional Hospital. “We’ve had it on board for about three weeks now, with staff training taking place. It’s been long overdue and a great community project. It’s been a great project to see develop.”
Employees at the hospital helped raise $60,000 for the new equipment. The bulk of the fund-raising effort, however, came from the Health Services Foundation, which raised a total of $285,000 for the project.
“Health Services Foundation was truly pleased to see so many donors along with hospital employees gather for the recent dedication of the new digital mammography system,” said Elizabeth Dulin, executive director for the Foundation. “This indeed was a very special campaign for the Foundation as here we are 10 years later, after funding for Sophie, our then state-of-the-art upgrade for mammography screenings, being able to bring, once again, the best possible equipment we can to Houlton Regional Hospital.”
With the grant funding for digital mammography, another milestone was reached, as the Foundation broke the $2 million mark in giving back to help support excellence in health care to their communities served.
“That says a lot about how much our communities and hospital employees cared about the importance of this effort, and how hard we worked to make bringing this equipment to Houlton a reality,” Dulin said. “As the executive director, I can only say with heartfelt sincerity how much all the generous contributions to this fund-raising effort meant. Also, not only are our donors financially generous, but also generous with their time in helping us reach the goals that are
set.”
Dulin said this latest digital mammography system brought great relief to those who are considered high risk patients, who will no longer have to make long trips to a facility in Bangor to accommodate their screening needs.
“We know that early detection is the best prevention and this new system will be able to catch breast cancer issues at a far earlier stage,” Dulin said. “This early stage detection will assist providers to prepare for the best course of treatment for the best possible outcome.”
The equipment is located in the same location as the previous mammography room at the hospital, but renovations were made to make the experience more comforting, Moakler said. Staff had about one week of training with the new technology.
Sue McLaughlin, radiology manager at HRH, said there was a slight learning curve with the new technology. The biggest difference, however, was the turnaround time for doctors to get results.
“Before, we used to take images on film and have them processed,” McLaughlin said. “We had to wait for each film to develop. This is an instantaneous process. We push a button and the image is right there on the monitor.”
McLaughlin said the quality of the image is also far superior to previous technology. That prior technology was actually discouraged by some in the field.
“A lot of patients who had breast cancer, their oncologists didn’t want them coming here to HRH because we were still using film,” McLaughlin said. “They wanted their patients to have mammograms done elsewhere because of the (older) technology.”
“There are several advantages to this new technology,” added Dr. Joseph Mack. “It’s been shown that there is a decrease in the dose of radiation.”
Another advantage with the digital technology is how well it works with detecting abnormalities with younger women.
“There is an increased rate of detection,” Dr. Mack said. “Women under 50 have denser breast tissue, making detection more difficult with the previous technology.”

With the completion of the digital mammography campaign, the Health Services Foundation crossed the $2 million threshold for raising funds in the community.
“Reaching the $2 million milestone was exciting for all those associated with the Foundation,” Dulin said. “Our organization has been built on great strength and integrity achieving a heritage of generously assisting area health care providers with their requests for support. That strength and integrity is made possible only through the extraordinary commitment of our donors over so many years.
“All our donors who support the Foundation do so knowing how vitally important our hospital is to our area and will do what they can on a regular basis to continue the goal of having Houlton Regional be the ‘Hospital of Choice’ for our area. They know that the assistance the Foundation extends to healthcare providers allows them to extend the best possible healthcare options they can so the best possible decisions can be made regarding a persons health and wellness,” she added.
The Foundation will continue to support the local hospital, health care clinics, ambulance, fire department services or other organizations that fall under a health care need, Dulin said.
Anyone wishing to know more about the Health Services Foundation, current projects and programs, or to make a donation should call the Foundation office 521-2147, or visit the website at www.healthservicesfoundation.org.

Reprinted from the Houlton Pioneer Times