Nemaha County Hospital (NCH) has recently acquired new state-of-the-art equipment for screening and diagnosis of breast cancer. The hospital’s new digital mammogram machine is several steps improved from the former analog mammogram machine, which was the best at the time the hospital acquired it.

The digital mammogram machine is less invasive than the analog machine because it uses MammoPads, which cushion the breasts during the process. Not only do the MammoPads make the mammogram softer, warmer and less painful, but they also hold the breast tissue in place so it is easier for the technician to get more tissue in the image. The images taken are also of better quality than those from the analog machine, which used film. The quality of the images is especially important because women in the Midwest tend to have denser breasts, which made conducting mammograms with older technology difficult.
Mammograms rule out pathology, injury, or cancers, and can determine whether a tumor is benign or malignant. Women should contact their regular doctors to schedule mammograms once yearly starting around the age of 40. Women with a family history of cancer should begin receiving mammograms earlier.
No one at the NCH has yet been trained to operate the new mammogram equipment. Rather, technicians from Lincoln come to Auburn once a month, normally on Mondays and Fridays. The local hospital’s Radiology Department hopes to train someone on its staff or hire someone who can be trained.

Purchase of the new mammogram equipment was made possible through a grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Established in 1999, the trust is funded through the money left in the wills of the Helmsleys, who donated to a considerable number of charities during their lives. The Helmsleys both grew up in low income households in New York and made their fortune in the real estate business.
The earlier breast cancer is detected, the better the prognosis. The new equipment at NCH enables women to become more knowledgeable about their health without driving long distances or feeling the normal discomfort associated with previous mammogram equipment.