March 6, 2009

Breast Center gets ready for move to One Hundred Oaks

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Vanderbilt Breast Center’s Vicki Wilson, left, and Cindy Davis get ready for the clinic’s move to Vanderbilt Health at One Hundred Oaks. (photo by Joe Howell)

Breast Center gets ready for move to One Hundred Oaks

The Vanderbilt Breast Center is leaving its current location in the Villages at Vanderbilt, and will reopen with an abbreviated appointment schedule Monday, March 9, at Vanderbilt Health at One Hundred Oaks.

The Breast Center will be back to its normal schedule, with new Saturday morning hours, within a few days. The managers have been planning the move for nearly a year.

“At first we were worried about moving into an older mall but once we saw the plans for the new campus at One Hundred Oaks we got very excited,” said Diane Harris, manager of the Vanderbilt Breast Center.

Harris and her staff of 22 are more than ready to move into a larger space. The new Breast Center will be housed in 18,000 square feet of specially designed clinic space.

There are 15 exam rooms, several consultation rooms and a large, patient-friendly central waiting area.

Best of all, there is a spacious dressing room with doors and lockers so patients can secure their belongings. Patients will be outfitted in soft terrycloth robes as they move from one exam room to the next.

The new Breast Center also boasts updated digital mammography equipment and it will be Middle Tennessee's only center with an MRI dedicated to breast screening. There is also additional space for the imaging staff to review scans and make diagnoses.

“Right now all of our diagnostic work is done in one small room with inadequate workstations to accommodate our needs,” said John Huff, M.D., chief, Section of Breast Imaging and imaging director for the Vanderbilt Breast Center. “The new clinic will have additional workstations and space to provide consultative services for clinicians as we discuss an individual patient's case.”

While many patients visit the Breast Center for routine mammography screening, breast cancer patients may be able to schedule some clinic visits at the One Hundred Oaks campus.

“We will continue to provide comprehensive care for both benign and malignant breast disease,” said Ingrid Meszoely, M.D., clinical director of the Vanderbilt Breast Center. “Our goal is to be able to bring the entire treatment team to our patients in order to provide a true multidisciplinary experience in a single setting.”

The Breast Center will continue to offer no-appointment mammograms and will be open Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to noon. Free valet parking is available at One Hundred Oaks and shuttles are available to transport Vanderbilt employees to and from the main campus. For questions, call 322-2064.