56 THE QUEENS COURIER • BREAST CANCER AWARENESS • OCTOBER 3, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
breast cancer awareness
Left to Right: Michael Luyckx, Director of Imaging, Cardiology and Transport; Michelle Burchette, Lead Mammography Technologist; Dr. Michael Tartell, Chairman of Imaging
Women’s Health Screenings; Radiology
Saint John’s Episcopal Hospital (SJEH)
has made great strides in women’s health
screenings and radiology, thanks to new
hospital leadership combined with renovations
and advanced technology.
SJEH became the sole hospital in the
Rockaways following Peninsula Hospital’s
closure in 2012. Hospital administration
and staff have worked to provide the best
in women’s health
in an area with some of the highest
breast cancer levels in the borough.
According to Michael Luyckx,
Administrative Director of Imaging
Services, the hospital is outfi tted with
state-of-the-art equipment in the mammography,
obstetrics and gynecology, and
ultrasound departments.
Luyckx said that SJEH performs
approximately 4,217 mammograms using
all digital technology by General Electric.
Digital mammograms off er several benefi
ts including clearer images, less levels of
radiation and electronically store images
allowing for more close up views. Th e
better quality images allows for an earlier
detection of breast cancer.
“It’s key to pick up breast cancer in the
earliest stages,” Luyckx said.
Planning has begun for the construction
of a new women’s comprehensive
health center on 105th Street. Th e hospital
was awarded a $3,117,930 grant by
the New York State Department of Health
(NYS DOH) go toward the health center.
Future services will include:
• Routine and sub-specialty gynecological
and obstetrical services
• Maternal fetal medicine for complicated
or high-risk pregnancies
• Urogynecologic
• Cancer screening
• Breast surgery
• Behavioral health
• Nutrition service
• Ultrasound, mammography, bone density
provided with on-site lab services
In addition to top-of-the-line women’s health
screenings, SJEH also off ers radiology imaging.
In the updated emergency department is
an advanced computerized tomography (CT)
scanner and state-of-the-art x-Ray equipment.
Luyckx said the hospital’s 64-slice CT
scanner allows for “extremely fast” imaging
— anywhere from 45 to 60 seconds.
SJEH can use the scanner for cardiac
imaging including a coronary CT calcium
scan and coronary angiography.
A benefi t to having the CT scanner in
the emergency department is expedited
care. Th e accessibility of this machine is
important because every second counts in
an emergency situation.
SJEH was also awarded a $3,955,000
grant by the NYS DOH for a new radiation
and oncology center that will be built
across the street from the hospital’s main
entrance. Th e 3,850 square foot center will
have exam rooms, consultation rooms,
patient dressing rooms and more.
Th e new center will also include the
Rockaways’ only linear accelerator —
a machine that customizes high energy
x-rays or electrons to conform to a
tumor’s shape and destroys cancer cells
while sparing surrounding normal tissue.
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