Support Your Mother, Sister, Daughter

We've all heard the statistics on the national news, Iowa has one of the highest rates of new cancer diagnoses in the country. The Iowa Cancer Registry, housed at the University Iowa, estimates that 21,200 new, invasive cancers will be diagnosed in Iowa this year. Of those cancers, they estimate that the highest percentage will be breast cancer, with almost 3,000 Iowans projected to be diagnosed.

The good news is that Van Buren County has one of the lowest rates of cancer diagnoses in the state when directly compared to other Iowa counties and adjusted for size. The bad news is, we have one of the highest rates in the state for cancer deaths when adjusted for size.

While we can't say for sure why this is, one thing it could mean is that our residents may not be as proactive with early detection screenings. At Van Buren County Hospital, we are on a mission to change this. In 2023, we were lucky enough to purchase a new digital mammography machine using federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services. The images produced on this machine meet the highest quality standards, and we are proud to offer this state-of-the-art service in our community.

Now we are ready to take detection capabilities to the next level, and we need your help. According to the Mayo Clinic, 40 to 50% of women have dense breast tissue. The denser the breast tissue, the harder it is to detect cancer utilizing a mammogram alone. New federal guidelines now require that practitioners inform women whose mammograms show that they have dense breast tissue. One follow-up option that is frequently recommended to women with dense breast tissue is a breast ultrasound.

A breast ultrasound requires a special ultrasound machine and the nearest one to us is located in Burlington. With your help, we would like to change that. The Van Buren County Hospital Foundation has officially launched a fundraising campaign to purchase an ABUS (Automated Breast Ultrasound) that can be utilized as an additional screening tool right here at VBCH.

When you ask our employees why the hospital exists, the majority will say that it is to serve our family, friends, and neighbors. At VBCH, we are committed to providing the best quality options in care, close to home. If you would like to help us make this next step in quality care a reality, please donate through this page or reach out to our Foundation at 319-293-8747.