ECC gets new mammography equipment

Elgin Community College has acquired state-of-the-art digital mammography equipment to provide students hands-on training experience, officials said.

The college started offering two new medical imaging programs this fall - mammography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It will offer a computed tomography program starting next fall.

ECC is expanding its academic offerings in medical imaging because it is a growing field, said Deb Letizio, ECC's director of medical imaging.

The $168,000 mammography machine, purchased through a state grant, is equipment typically available at hospitals and clinical settings and rare to have on a college campus, she said.

Letizio said it gives students an added advantage to be able to practice their skills on the mammography equipment before having to use it on real patients during clinical rotations at hospitals and clinics.

"Mammography is kind of unique in that the students actually have to practice positioning of the breast," she said.

Students will be using a model torso with soft plastic breasts and volunteer live models to practice using the machine.

The college's faculty was recently trained on the equipment. The mammography program classes are currently offered on weekends or evenings for typically nontraditional students who are working professionals.

"It is geared toward folks that are already credentialed radiographers and want to specialize in the area of mammography," Letizio said. "The mammography program is an additional semester after the student has graduated from an accredited radiography program. There are other mammography programs at community colleges. I'm not aware of any community college that actually has the equipment on campus."

Specializing in one of the imaging fields also makes students more marketable.

"It gives them an opportunity for a higher earning potential, and more of an opportunity in the employment perspective as well," Letizio said.

Many of the students enrolled in the mammography program are graduates of ECC's two-year radiography program.

The college currently has no plans to purchase equipment for the other imaging programs, Letizio said.

"MRI equipment is quite a bit more expensive than the mammography equipment," she said. "We're talking in the millions there. It is very large, very expensive and it requires special shielding because of the strong magnetic field."

For more information on the imaging programs, visit elgin.edu/newprograms, call Letizio at (847) 214-7691 or email dletizio@elgin.edu.