Local banks, credit union pledge $60,000 toward mammography machine

Two banks and a credit union in Libby have pledged $60,000 to the Cabinet Peaks Medical Center Foundation’s 3D Mammography Campaign, according to a news release.

The pledges were $15,000 from Glacier Bank, $15,000 from First Montana Bank and $30,000 from Lincoln County Credit Union.

The goal of the recently announced campaign is to raise $500,000 to purchase a Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT), or 3D Mammography, machine.

“The machine is picking up 54 percent more cancers and decreasing false positives by 19 percent,” states Allye Anderson, lead mammography technologist at CPMC, in the news release. “The decrease in false positives means patients’ nerves are not being worked up, less money is being spent and breast tissue is not being deformed by biopsies.”

The machine takes multiple images in one scan, allowing a radiologist to scroll through a 3D image of the breast tissue instead of just a flat image, Anderson states.

“Breast cancer is a beatable cancer, and this machine gives our community a fighting chance in doing just that,” Anderson states.

“We are incredibly grateful to these three institutions that have come together for the good of the community to support this campaign,” states Foundation Executive Director Kate Stephens in the news release.

George Mercer, Glacier Bank president and a member of the Foundation’s board, kicked off the bank challenge with a pledge from his bank.

More than half of the Foundation’s $500,000 goal had been reached as of the March 23 news release.

For more information about the Foundation or how to contribute, contact Kate Stephens at kstep@cabinetpeaks.org or 406-283-7140.