Dyson Breast Center opens at Vassar Brothers

Vassar Brothers Medical Center this month opened a $4.2 million expanded breast health center on its Poughkeepsie campus.

Officials at the Hudson Valley hospital, part of the Health Quest health care system in Putnam and Dutchess counties, said the Dyson Breast Center will give patients one-stop access to experts and technology required for routine and comprehensive breast imaging. The 11,746-square-foot center is on the second floor of the Vassar Ambulatory Surgery Center.

The Dyson center is equipped with two state-of-the-art mammography/tomosynthesis units that are the first of their kind in the region, according to Vassar Brothers. Dr. Angela Keleher, breast surgeon and director of the Dyson Breast Center, said the highly sensitive 3-D equipment “decreases the need for calling patients back in for additional screenings and increases the cancer detection rate.”

Keleher said the hospital has built “a calming, comprehensive, spa-like breast center to promote services for both benign breast disease and breast cancer. ”¦ In creating this center, we are meeting the needs of the community so doctors can refer their patients here and those patients can stay close to home for high level breast-care services given by specialists in the field. We also have a high-risk center that follows up with survivors who need continued care and those unaffected by cancer but who have a family history and need special focused attention.”

The expansion project was funded in part by donations from friends of Vassar Brothers Medical Center, including $1 million from the Dyson Foundation.