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Post Date: Friday, October 21, 2016 |
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 The antler arches on Jackson Hole's Town Square are an iconic symbol recognized by many. But don't worry, you're not seeing things at the moment, yes, those antlers are pink!
Each October in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the antlers are wrapped with pink lights to "Light The Town Pink."
Unfortunately those pink lights also illuminate the fact that Idaho and Wyoming rank 49th and 50th, respectively for the number of women who receive mammograms screenings. Teton County ranks the highest at 68% in Wyoming, but we still are under the 81% set by the Healthy People 2020 Medicare goal.
St. John's Hospital has taken a significant step recently to help improve those numbers in Teton & Sublette Counties. Thanks to fundraising efforts by the hospital and several groups in the community, the hospital has purchased a new digital 3-D Tomosynthesis mammography machine. Instead of trading in their old machine, they donated it to the Marbleton hospital in Sublette County which did not have a mammography unit.
The new machine allows doctors to examine breast tissue one layer at a time by converting digital breast images into a stack of very thin slices. The composite of these slices become akin to a three-dimensional image of the breast tissue and allows the radiologist to to examine the tissue a millimeter at a time.
According to a recent study, 3D mammography screening detected much more cancer than the full-field digital mammography: 211 cancers compared to only 163. And when it came to dense breast tissue, it identified 80% of cancers, versus 59% via FFDM alone.
On average, the radiology department at St. John's performs 3,000 mammograms each year. With the old machine there were able to schedule 7 appointments a day, with the new technology they will be able to increase appointments by approximately 15 percent. Their goal is to increase screenings by 10 percent in the next year and 5 percent each year thereafter.
St. John's does have programs available to help pay for mammograms for those without insurance or are in need of financial assistance through the Women's Healthcare Fund. The Fund also provides assistance to cancer patients who may need assistance with daycare, travel expenses, mortgage payments or buying groceries. To learn more about the Fund or to apply for assistance, please visit their website.
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