Mammography service earns national accreditation

    The Mammography Service at Cary Medical Center has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation by the American College of Radiology (ACR).  The recognition was made possible after a recent survey by the ACR.     The ACR, headquartered in Reston, Va, awards accreditation to facilities for the achievement of high practice standards after a peer-review evaluation of the practice.  Evaluations are conducted by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field.  They assess the qualifications of the personnel and the adequacy of facility equipment.  The surveyors report their findings to the ACR’s Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report.
    Leslie Pelletier, RPT, MSB, and department manager in Radiology and Rehabilitation Services at Cary said that the accreditation process provides an opportunity for the hospital to evaluate its performance on certain standards for quality.
    “We believe our Mammography Service is one of the finest in any rural hospital”, said Pelletier. “Our technologists have a unique sense of empathy and compassion for their patients as well as a thorough clinical knowledge of the mammography procedure and its importance to the early diagnosis of breast cancer.  Their hard work to make sure our policies, treatments and equipment are up to par made this recognition possible.  The accreditation also helps patients to understand that we are offering a high quality and national recognized program”.
    Cary Medical Center has maintained national accreditation for its Mammography Service for a number of years and voluntarily seeks the accreditation every three years through the ACR.  The ACR is a national organization servicing more than 32,000 diagnostic and interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, and nuclear medicine and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.
    Shawn Laferriere, D.O., chief radiologist at Cary Medical Center praised the effort of the technologists who staff the mammography service.
    “We are very proud of our technologists who provide the due diligence to make sure our program follows the national standards of the ACR.  This means attention to detail and making sure that our program meets high professional standards”.