Women in the East Bay have voiced a need: They want state-of-the-art breast cancer diagnostic and treatment services that they don’t have to travel far or wait long to access. Alta Bates Summit will make this vision a reality when it completes the building of its Carol Ann Read Breast Health Center in the spring of 2007.

“There’s nothing like it right now in the East Bay,” says Meridithe Mendelsohn, MPA, administrative director of the breast health center. “Our center will be the first of its kind here, and the level of service we’ll provide will be unprecedented for a community hospital.”

“Women will now have the best care possible anywhere, right in their own community,” says Linda Peltz, Alta Bates Summit Foundation board chair. “What’s most exciting is that philanthropy is making a huge difference. The breast center could simply not be built without the generous donations of community members.”

The Foundation’s Centennial Campaign for Excellence aims to raise $25 million for various major hospital initiatives, and the Carol Ann Read Breast Health Center—which will cost $12 million to create—figures prominently in the fund-raising efforts. The Foundation has already raised $9.5 million toward the center’s completion, but needs to raise an additional $3 million. “We can only achieve this $3 million goal with the help of people who realize that having a comprehensive breast health center in their community is a vital need,” says Linda.

Perhaps the biggest advantage the new center will offer women is fast diagnosis. Currently, women with a suspicious mammogram might need to go to different locations for further tests, and would have to wait up to a week for a diagnosis: Is it cancer, or is everything OK? “Ask any woman who’s had to go through this time of waiting and uncertainty, and she’ll tell you it’s torture,” says Meridithe. “At our new center, we’ll provide confirmed diagnoses in 24 to 48 hours, so women won’t have to wait.”

The center will feature state-of-the-art technology for breast cancer diagnosis, from digital mammography to MRI and stereotactic biopsy. It will also house a variety of programs. “Most of us already know a friend or family member who has had to address breast cancer at some point in her life,” says Linda, “and now, thanks to philanthropy, these loved ones can get the best care possible, without having to travel outside their community.”
To make a donation to support the Carol Ann Read Breast Health Center, call the Foundation at (510) 204-1667.