Stater Bros. Charities donates $150,000 to Redlands Community Hospital for breast cancer diagnostic equipment

To improve access to advanced 3D breast cancer diagnostic equipment for local patients, Stater Bros. Charities and the Inland Women Fighting Cancer (IWFC) have awarded a $150,000 grant to the Redlands Community Hospital Foundation. The donation was made possible through the funds raised from the 2016 Believe Walk.

Peter Van Helden, CEO of Stater Bros., Nancy Varner and Annie Sellas, founders of the IWFC attended the check presentation at the Redlands Community Hospital Women’s Imaging Center last week.

Each year, Stater Bros. Charities, a non-profit that supports the critical needs in the communities Stater Bros. Markets serves, teams up with IWFC to host the Believe Walk. The event is a community-based effort that attracts more than 10,000 participants to raise funds for cancer treatment and support services for Inland Empire communities.

“The hospital’s Women’s Health Imaging Center completes an estimated 5,800 mammograms annually, nearly 400 breast biopsies and unfortunately one-third of the results are positive for cancer,” said Jan Opdyke, president of the Redlands Community Hospital Foundation. “Through this generous gift from Stater Bros. Charities and IWFC, the hospital will purchase the Affirm, a new system that allows radiologists to precisely and quickly target suspicious areas during an outpatient procedure.”

The new system, which will enable an angled biopsy approach that facilitates unobstructed views of lesions, will permit mammographers to more quickly, easily and accurately evaluate suspicious mammographic findings.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 252,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women during 2017, resulting in more than 40,000 deaths. Many of those deaths might have been prevented with earlier detection and diagnosis.

“No one is ever prepared for a cancer diagnoses,” said Jim Holmes, president and CEO at Redlands Community Hospital. “We’re extremely thankful for Stater Bros. Charities’ dedication to help our hospital provide patients with the latest technology that offers early cancer dedication, resulting in improved outcomes and more lives saved.”

Redlands Community Hospital’s Women’s Health Imaging Center is a 3,300 square-foot facility that provides women with mammograms, breast biopsies, bone density screening exams and other procedures. The center provides no-cost health education for women and allows patients to receive all necessary imaging services in one location.