Shoppers Drug Marts in this region are teaming up to help raise funds for a new 3D Digital Breast Mammography machine at Windsor Regional Hospital.
A month-long campaign at the 20 area stores runs from October 5 to November 2.
Customers can make donations in various denominations of $1, $5, $10 or more with a goal of raising $50,000.
That would cover about 10% of the cost of the $500,000 machine which is to be installed in January 2020.
Windsor Regional's new Chief of Diagnostics, Dr. Del Dhanoa says the new machine will improve their confidence in the images produced.
He says the technology is a big improvement over the current technology.
"The whole point of the machine is that it looks at the breast from different areas, from different angles" says Dr. Dhanoa. "And therefore you can better identify normal breast tissue compared to masses, breast masses, which is what you're really trying to pick up."
Dhanoa says the trust in the images means fewer call-backs for a second image.
"It minimizes anxiety for patients" explains Dr. Dhanoa. "Because no patient wants a phone call saying you know we did a breast mammogram and we're going to call you back because we think we found something. And it also keeps people working because a lot of patients are taking time off work to come back for that second appointment. So if we can minimize that second appointment it helps with patients and their careers."
Shoppers Drug Mart Pharmacist-owner, Dr. Matthew Thibert, October 1, 2019 (by AM800's Peter Langille)
Dr. Matthew Thibert is the pharmacist and owner of the Devonshire Mall Shoppers and says this is their annual Growing Women's Health campaign.
"We've teamed up with Windsor Regional Hospital for their new 3-D breast cancer mammography machine" says Dr. Thibert. "What we're hoping to do is offset some of the costs associated with implementing that machine in the Windsor Essex community. The philanthropy of Shoppers Drug Mart is to put women's health first."
Dhanoa adds the new machine also requires less compression than the current breast mammography equipment — meaning it's more comfortable for the patient.