Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Opens Two Warm, Supportive Patient Centers: Carol Ann Read Breast Health Center and Family Resou...(ate access from the Center to surgery. ....)

-- Accessible health services for women with disabilities, facilitated by

the design input of Breast Health Access for Women with Disabilities

(BHAWD), a program of Alta Bates Summit since 1995.

The Family Resource Center supports community education and outreach, with a focus on cancer screening programs. In a home-like environment, visitors have access to computers, books and other written materials on a variety of health issues. Two exam rooms, a conference room, and consultation area support the cancer screening efforts and the continuing education of Alta Bates Summit healthcare providers. Both centers utilize soothing interior treatments to comfort all who enter, including the warm brown and green earth tones of the Family Resource Center.

The Breast Health Center's circular foyer has up-lighted recesses lined with mosaic blue and green glass tiles to give the impression of waterfalls. The sounds of flowing water help to augment the illusion. As patients move past the admitting desk, they enter a waiting room finished in a rich gold patina and highlighted by five large portraits of "Women of Distinction" by local international photographer Paolo Gianturco. On their way to dressing, diagnostic and treatment rooms, patients pass through another dramatic experience called "Faith's Place," which includes a portrait of Faith Fancher and recesses lined in gold glass tile. The foyer is dedicated to the memory of the former KTVU television news person who bravely chronicled her own breast cancer battle on air for Bay Area viewers, including her initial lumpectomy at Alta Bates Hospital in 1997.

"We wanted women to have a place to come to that is warm and nurturing," says radiologist Ira Kanter, M.D., of the Breast Health Center. "Our aim is for the new center to be a place of healing and hope."

Founded in 1906, Ratcliff is the longest continually-operating architectural firm in
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