TRA News

Unique Collaboration Brings Major Tacoma-Based Organizations
Together to Create a Breast Care Center of Excellence

With as many as 60,000 breast-imaging studies annually, the new Carol Milgard Breast Center will be a centralized, regional source for breast imaging and diagnostic services.

Three leading local health care organizations, Franciscan Health System, MultiCare Health System, and TRA Medical Imaging announced the creation of a state-of-the-art breast center for residents of Tacoma and the entire Puget Sound region. They are joined by the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation, a Tacoma-based private philanthropic organization, that has committed $5 million toward the development of the center.

The three largest providers of breast imaging services in the area are pooling their resources and collaborating on the creation of this state-of-the-art facility to offer the highest quality diagnostic care while significantly reducing the time from screening to diagnosis. The $16 million, not-for-profit Carol Milgard Breast Center will open in Tacoma during the first quarter of 2009.

“The creation of this center is the realization of a dream that we have been working toward for years,” said Dr. Khai Tran, medical director of mammography and women’s imaging at TRA Medical Imaging in Tacoma. “With this center, we will be able to provide a level of care for the community that will be unsurpassed – in Seattle or anywhere else. By combining a comfortable, caring environment with the newest technology and highly trained and specialized staff, we will be able to focus on helping women through what is often a very stressful time.”

The Carol Milgard Breast Center will offer screening and diagnostic services including digital mammography, breast ultrasound, breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and breast biopsy, including sterotactic, ultrasound-guided and MRI-guided biopsy, and bone density services. The center will offer educational programs for physicians and community members, and outreach and support for patients, families and survivors. CMBC will also work to provide care to all women regardless of socio-economic status.

The center was named to honor the spirit of a woman who was a long-time Tacoma resident, philanthropist, and breast cancer survivor.

"Our foundation is honored to be involved in the breast care center,” said Cari Milgard-DeGoede, of the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation, and daughter of Gary and Carol Milgard. “This cause is near and dear to us as our mom was a 30-year breast cancer survivor. She was a ray of sunshine and offered enthusiasm and hope to everyone she met. She would be proud to know that we have honored her by participating in a world-class operation that offers better care, technology, and turn-around times for women needing breast care."

MultiCare, Franciscan and TRA are coordinating breast care services and will no longer be offering breast imaging services at Tacoma General Hospital, Allenmore Medical Center, St. Joseph Medical Center, Franciscan Gig Harbor Medical Pavilion on Kimball Drive or TRA Tacoma, when the new center opens. The Carol Milgard Breast Center will serve patients from these facilities and the rest of the community.

“We are very excited about this joint venture and what it will do for the entire region,” said Diane Cecchettini, RN, President and CEO of MultiCare Health System. “All of us feel strongly that we are making an investment in this community for the sake of our daughters, granddaughters and great granddaughters.”

“There has been an incredible amount of good will around the table,” said Joe Wilczek, President and CEO of Franciscan Health System. “Quality breast screening is a community-wide service that touches half the population. All of the individuals and organizations partnering on this project agree that it is crucial that South Sound residents have local access to first-class care.”

The Carol Milgard Breast Center, with its singular focus on breast screening and diagnosis, will employ board certified radiology physicians specially trained in breast imaging and will comply with best practices for care established by the Mammography Quality Standards Act passed by Congress in 1992, as well as voluntary guidelines recommended by the American Cancer Society.

“All these organizations – TRA, MultiCare, Franciscan and the Milgard Family Foundation – share an overall goal of shortening the time between diagnosis and treatment of breast care for all women, regardless of socioeconomic status,” said Marcy Parsons, program director for the Carol Milgard Breast Center. “With highly trained medical and professional staff members focused on nothing but breast care, we believe we will make incredible strides toward improving breast care for all women in the region.”

Franciscan Health System includes four hospitals, with a fifth to open in Gig Harbor in early 2009; a multispecialty medical group with more than 50 clinics throughout the South Sound, as well as Franciscan Hospice and Palliative Care which features Hospice House in University Place. The not-for-profit Franciscan has served the community since 1891.

MultiCare is an integrated health organization made up of four hospitals, numerous primary care and urgent care clinics, multi-specialty centers, Hospice and Home Health services, and many other services. A not-for-profit organization based in Tacoma, Washington since 1882, MultiCare has grown over the years in response to community needs. MultiCare serves patients at 93 locations in Pierce, South King, Kitsap and Thurston counties.

TRA Medical Imaging is a local partnership of radiology physicians formed in 1943. The radiologists of TRA Medical Imaging currently serve Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, St. Clare Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center and Tacoma General Hospital and TRA’s four outpatient imaging centers. TRA radiologists are board certified, subspecialty trained and focused, and provide diagnostic radiology, interventional and neuro-interventional radiology services to the community.

Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation is a private philanthropic organization founded in Tacoma, Washington in 2000 by Gary and Carol Milgard, and their three children Cari Milgard-DeGoede, Lori Milgard-Rivera and Mark Milgard. The family feels this is a way for them to give back to the community that helped them to become so successful. They will continue to educate their descendants in the value of community service. Although Mr. Milgard is the founder of Milgard Manufacturing, Inc., there is no affiliation between the company and the foundation.