Lafayette General Medical Center Breast Center Earns Designation, Navigator Certified

The Breast Center at Lafayette General Medical Center (LGMC) has been designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR). This coincides with the Breast Center announcing the certification of Sandy Hebert as the center’s first certified breast patient nurse navigator.

By awarding facilities the status of a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence, the ACRrecognizes breast-imaging centers that have accreditation in mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy and breast ultrasound (including ultrasound-guided breast biopsy).

Hebert is now certified by the National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC). This knowledge-based certificate is awarded to those who meet the Breast Patient Cancer Navigation’s certification requirements. They must also attain the knowledge and skills established by the NCBC’s standards to navigate cancer patients through their continuum of care with skill and competency. Hebert is among an elite group of Breast Patient Navigators nationwide.

The Center of Excellence certification adds to a list of other accreditations for Lafayette General imaging services, including accreditation by the American College of Radiology in Breast MRI, Commuted Tomography (CT), and Positron Emission Tomography (PET).

“This is an outstanding achievement for our Breast Center,” says Craig Ortego, Vice President of Cancer Services at Lafayette General. “We developed a comprehensive program aimed at providing the very best services, especially for women seeking a variety of breast imaging examinations.”

Board-certified physicians and medical physicists, who are experts in the field, conduct peer-review evaluations in each breast imaging modality. They determined that this facility has achieved high practice standards in image quality, personnel qualifications, facility equipment, quality control procedures and quality assurance programs.

The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 36,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists. This ACR program focuses on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.