Novant Health opens new breast health center in Charlotte

Novant Well being held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday afternoon for a brand new medical middle in Charlotte. 

The donor-funded breast well being middle, named in honor of breast most cancers survivor and former nurse, Agnes Binder Weisiger Breast Well being Middle, will enhance entry to specialty take care of sufferers and develop Novant Well being’s present breast well being middle, in keeping with a press launch from Novant Well being. 

“We all know that roughly one in eight ladies will face a breast most cancers analysis of their lifetime and that greater than 40,000 ladies and 500 males die yearly from breast most cancers in america,” Robert Barr, a member of the Novant Well being board of trustees, stated. 

The middle value $15 million, with $5 million of that coming from the Novant Well being Basis, Katie Boylan, the chief philanthropy officer for the Presbyterian Medical Middle Basis, stated. 

Why it issues: Although white ladies are barely extra more likely to develop breast most cancers than Black ladies, Black ladies usually tend to develop extra aggressive, advanced-stage breast most cancers that’s identified at a youthful age, in keeping with Breastcancer.org.

The brand new middle will formally be open to the general public beginning on Monday, Jan. 29, and hopes to deal with these disparities by offering personalised and equitable healthcare to all its sufferers. 

“There are disparities in breast most cancers analysis and therapy, in addition to ethnic variations in breast most cancers statistics,” Barr stated throughout the ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

The brand new state-of-the-art facility will allow 3 times the variety of sufferers to be screened, growing the quantity from 50 sufferers screened every day to 150, Boylan stated.

The middle additionally has two new mammogram machines, permitting for 96% extra each day screenings on common, Tiffani Jones, the incoming board chair of the Novant Well being Presbyterian Medical Middle Basis, stated. 

The middle will present breast imaging, breast biopsies and annual mammograms, amongst different companies. 

The 13,500-square-foot middle was designed to be soothing and “spa-like” to make sufferers extra comfy. Some notable options embody a chilled shade palette, native artwork and a “therapeutic backyard.”

The middle additionally contains a discrete entrance for male sufferers in addition to a “males’s lounge.” 

The situation, within the coronary heart of Charlotte’s middle metropolis, was chosen purposefully to serve a various neighborhood, Jones stated. 

“We’re right here to offer care to everybody, on this neighborhood and throughout the town,” Jones stated. 

Every affected person might be assigned their very own breast well being nurse navigator to assist with the person wants and questions of every affected person. 

Breast most cancers survivor and Novant Well being affected person Amoy George stated she is grateful for the “spa-like atmosphere” that can permit others to loosen up whereas receiving remedies. 

George is formally cancer-free and completed chemotherapy 4 days in the past. 

“I’m truthfully grateful and grateful for Novant and the entire care crew that was capable of deal with me,” George informed the press on the Thursday afternoon occasion.