Reef Atwell of USDA and Riki Thoreson-Schaefer, Mammography Technician
Mr. Reef Atwell of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) made a visit to Mendocino Coast District Hospital on Wednesday of this week to inspect our new digital mammography equipment. USDA awarded MCDH a $55,000 grant which has been used towards the purchase of the new equipment which is housed in the hospital’s new Diagnostic Imaging Center. Mr. Atwell, who is based in Santa Rosa, California was performing a part of his responsibilities to check and verify that the new equipment had, indeed, been purchased and that it is working. “I am very impressed with the new center and all of it’s new equipment,” said Atwell. The total cost for the new digital mammography unit, including a picture archiving system was $412,783. USDA provides millions of dollars each year for rural America. “We are always glad to help the Mendocino Coast,” he said. USDA has made hundreds of thousands of dollars of grants to MCDH over the years. The last one before this was for funds to purchase a new ambulance in 2008. We are very thankful to our Congressman Mike Thompson, who supported this grant for Mendocino Coast District Hospital and to the United States Department of Agriculture for their support of rural America.