The B.C. Women’s Hospital and Health Centre Foundation will have an additional digital mammography machine thanks to donations to the Telus Go Pink campaign.
The campaign raised more than $2 million for women’s breast health across Canada, and half of that was raised in B.C.
In May, Telus announced it would donate $25 from every pink Blackberry sold across Canada towards digital mammography machines in regional hospitals.
The timing is ideal as the B.C. Women’s Hospital is launching a flagship breast imaging and training centre in B.C. offering state-of-the-art digital mammography, slated to open in late 2011.
A $3 million donation from the Gordon Diamond family will support the creation of the Sadie Diamond Breast Health Imaging Centre at B.C. Women’s. The Diamond gift is enough for the hospital foundation to purchase two state-of-the-art digital mammography machines with tomosynthesis, the most advanced breast screening and diagnostic technology available today.
The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) is contributing a further $1.1 million in operational funding, and the Telus donation will enable the hospital to purchase a third digital mammography machine.
“Expanding the Sadie Diamond Breast Health Imaging Centre from two to three digital mammography units will be a truly transformational gift for B.C. Women’s,” said Laurie Clarke, CEO of the B.C. Women’s Hospital & Health Centre Foundation.
“It will vastly increase the Hospital’s breast cancer screening and diagnostic capacity, enabling us to provide care to women faster with the most advanced equipment available on the market today.
“It will increase the scope of B.C. Women’s new breast cancer imaging centre, necessitating an expansion of the Centre’s current footprint, and a new location within the BC Women’s hospital campus.”