Newly Renovated Women’s Center Offers Comfortable 'SmartCurve' Mammograms

The Lisa Boccard Memorial Room. Courtesy of Broward Health.

By: Jen Russon

Discomfort will no longer be a concern for women who make their mammogram appointment at the newly renovated Coral Springs Women’s Diagnostic and Wellness Center.

While new floors, wall art, lockers, and dressing rooms are among the major renovations at the center, the SmartCurve mammography is at the forefront of their improvements.

Stephanie Golovich, RT (R)(M) with the SmartCurve system. Photo by Jen Russon.

Touting comfort as its number one feature, the 3D SmartCurve system was designed to address the most common complaint when women get mammograms: pain from having their breasts compressed, while technicians capture images needed for radiology.

“Let’s face it, many women are used to mammograms being extremely uncomfortable, and that could be the reason they’ll put off getting screened for years,” said Stephanie Golovich, a registered mammography technician at the center.

She said her center acquired two of the machines, and she believes they are one of few places within her health district to offer SmartCurve technology.

“The softer design and paddle shape are comfortable for my patients, and comfort is really, really important when you’re doing a mammogram,” said Golovich.

Radiologists, she works with noted the high quality of the new machines’ 3D imaging, and agree they enable more comprehensive views of breast tissue – especially for patients with implants or large breasts.

Statistics from Hologic 3Dimensions Mammography bear this out, with early detection of breast cancer up by 54 percent. SmartCurve has also allowed radiologists to find cancers as early as stage zero and dialed back return visits by as much as 37 percent.

Lisa Boccard, who lost her battle with breast cancer before the renovated center opened.

Improvements such as these were a huge part of advocacy done by the Lisa Boccard Breast Cancer Foundation, for which one of the rooms in the newly renovated center is named.

Lisa Boccard, who battled breast cancer for nearly 30 years and succumbed to the disease in June, was honored at an unveiling and ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 29.

Golovich, who knew Boccard well, said the embattled philanthropist participated in renovations that began in January and passed away just shy of the center’s completion, which was supported through donations from The Sun Capital Partners Foundation to the Lisa Boccard Breast Cancer Fund.

In the Lisa Boccard Room, vases of fresh flowers, pastel furniture, and chic decorating are surrounded by the empowering and optimistic words that used to pepper the late activist’s vocabulary.

“She never let on how hard her cancer was on her, or how scared she must have been,” said Golovich, who also said patients shouldn’t put off getting screened for breast cancer out of fear they might receive a diagnosis like Boccard’s.

“80 percent of the mammograms I do – maybe even more than that – do not show any cancer,” said Golovich.

She is correct according to medical data. For every 1,000 women who have a screening mammogram, only 100 are recalled to get more mammography or ultrasound images. An average of 20 women will be recommended for needle biopsies, and of those, only five are diagnosed with breast cancer.

“There is no reason to put off your mammogram and other annual screenings,” said Golovich.

In the freshened up lobby of the women’s center where Golovich works, a bevy of patients wait to do just that. One woman said she has been coming to the center for 20 years.

“I come from Coconut Creek for my bone scans. I can remember when this place, here in the Medical Arts Center, didn’t exist yet. You had to go to the hospital across the street. I am enjoying the renovations – they’re really nice,” said Joanne Foley.

In addition to its mammography, the center has always offered MRIs of the breast and bone density screenings.

The Coral Springs Women’s Diagnostic and Wellness Center is located in Suite 270 at 2901 Coral Hills Drive. To reach the appointment desk, call 954-759-7500.