Bronson Recognized for Excellence in Breast Health Services

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Bronson Center for Women has been named a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR) in recognition of providing comprehensive breast imaging and diagnostic services exceeding required standards.

Bronson Center for Women is one of only 187 breast imaging centers in the United States earning Breast Imaging Center of Excellence, and one of three in the state. There are 309 accredited mammography sites in Michigan. The ACR awards Breast Imaging Center of Excellence to organizations that successfully achieve accreditation in mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, breast ultrasound, and ultrasound-guided breast biopsy.

“Obtaining annual mammograms is vital to women's health,” said Christina Jacobs, M.D., breast imaging radiologist with Advanced Radiology Services, Kalamazoo Division. “Receiving this recognition from the ACR helps reinforce the high quality of care our patients receive.”

Services at Bronson Center for Women include breast health care, bone health, midlife consultation services, and educational programs. Bronson Center for Women is located at 601 John St., Suite M-515, at Bronson Methodist Hospital. Appointments can be made Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at (269) 341-6100.

The ACR, headquartered in Reston, Va., is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic-interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, and nuclear medicine and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive healthcare services.

According to the National Cancer Institute, a woman in the United States has a one in eight risk of developing breast cancer, and a one in 33 risk of dying from breast cancer over her lifetime. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among U.S. women. The American Cancer Society estimates that over 214,000 women were diagnosed with new cases of breast cancer in 2006, and over 40,000 women last year died from breast cancer. Early detection through mammography improves the likelihood of surviving breast cancer.

About Bronson Methodist Hospital

Bronson Methodist Hospital, located at 601 John St. in downtown Kalamazoo, Mich., is the flagship of Bronson Healthcare Group, a not-for-profit healthcare system serving all of southwest Michigan and northern Indiana. With 380 licensed beds and all private rooms, Bronson Methodist Hospital provides care in virtually every specialty—cardiology, orthopedics, surgery, emergency medicine, neurology, oncology—with advanced capabilities in critical care as a Level I Trauma Center; in neurological care as a Joint Commission certified Primary Stroke Center; in cardiac care as the region’s first accredited Chest Pain Emergency Center; in obstetrics as the leading BirthPlace and only high-risk pregnancy center in southwest Michigan, and in pediatrics as one of only four children's hospitals in the state. The hospital is the recipient of the 2005 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's highest presidential honor for quality and organizational performance excellence, and was named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals for 2005 by Solucient.

Bronson Healthcare Group is one of Kalamazoo’s largest employers and has been ranked for five consecutive years by Working Mother magazine as one of the nation’s 100 best companies to work for. Annually, Bronson provides more than $37 million in community benefits through outreach and charitable care for the un- and under-insured. Bronson also serves the largest percentage of Medicaid patients of any Michigan hospital outside of southeast Michigan.

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