VALLEY CITY, N.D. — A new mammogram location is making health care much easier for area residents.
The new location inside CHI Mercy Health in Valley City makes the process much more comfortable. Before, elderly patients and those with disabilities battled stairs leading up to an outdoor mobile unit, which also featured tight spaces inside. And, of course, the cold weather.
That was Kathy Nelson's reality before hearing about an initiative taken by CHI Mercy Health. "I was looking at it, I said, 'Well, there's no way I can get to that one,' " she said of the outdoor facility. "We're gonna have to go to Fargo if I wanted this done.
And I said it to one of the nurses, and they said, 'Well, yeah, they're working on one.' " CHI Mercy Health's $600,000 updated indoor location has all patients need on one floor, including a changing station, a handy robe warmer and snacks and drinks. "It was a nice experience to know that they've got something like this now, and for people like me and others that will benefit from it," Nelson said.
She was the first patient to use the new space and the new machine a week ago. Now, she and others have more room and a state-of-the-art mammogram machine. "We can set it to where we absolutely need it to be and say this is where the study needs to be in order for us to get a quality image," Ryan Fowler, president of CHI Mercy Health, said.
"However, the more compression you use on this machine, the better image you get." CHI Mercy Health will be holdi.