[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 158 (Monday, November 10, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2298-E2299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HONORING RADX TECHNOLOGY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KEN BENTSEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Sunday, November 9, 1997

  Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the tremendous 
contribution RADX Technology of Houston has made in the battle against 
breast cancer.
  In October, we celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which 
included highlighting efforts by medical providers, community 
organizations, and businesses to ensure that all women have access to 
the breast cancer screening and treatment they need. It is particularly 
gratifying to acknowledge the efforts of the management and employees 
of RADX Technology, whose generosity is helping achieve this goal and 
save lives.
  RADX has donated a new, more cost-effective mammography screening 
system to The Rose Diagnostic Clinic, which will help The Rose 
tremendously in its life-saving mission of providing affordable and 
accessible breast cancer screening to all women regardless of their 
ability to pay. This new machine, the mammoscope, has great potential 
to save lives because it will reduce the time between screening and 
diagnosis.
  The Rose, a non-profit organization under the leadership of founder 
Dr. Dixie Melillo and executive director Dorothy Weston, operates three 
neighborhood clinics in the Houston area. Since it was founded in 1986, 
The Rose has performed more than 72,000 procedures, with 6,030 women 
receiving services free through The Rose Sponsorship Program for 
medically underserved women.
  The Rose is always seeking to expand the reach and quality of its 
services, and it depends on the generosity of paying patients and 
community and business contributors to do so. RADX, which builds 
viewing systems for general radiography and mammography films, has 
helped meet a crucial need with a donation of the mammoscope, an 
$18,000 device. Kathryn Earle, RADX purchasing manager, proposed the 
project after reading about The Rose and recognizing they would need to 
be able to read multiple mammograms efficiently to continue to increase 
their patient load. Using the mammoscope, The Rose will be able to 
increase the productivity of radiologists for both screening and 
diagnosis.

  This project was a hands-on team effort of virtually all 60 RADX 
employees from management team members to warehouse works. The 
mammography viewing system was built

[[Page E2299]]

from scratch by employees volunteering their time after hours and on 
weekends. RADX approached key suppliers to donate items for the 
project. Even the transportation of the system to The Rose was donated.
  I congratulate all involved in this vital project, including 
executive director James Hinds and purchasing manager Kathryn Earle of 
RADX and Dr. Dixie Melillo and executive director Dorothy Weston of The 
Rose.
  The value of the mammoscope and this partnership between The Rose and 
RADX cannot be overstated. One in 8 women can expect to develop breast 
cancer during her lifetime, and one in 28 women will die from it. Every 
15 minutes, a woman dies from breast cancer. During this decade, it is 
estimated that more than 1.8 million women, and 12,000 men, will be 
diagnosed with breast cancer. Nearly half a million will die of this 
disease. Such statistics can be numbing, but they are all too real to 
those of us whose families have been affected by breast cancer.
  But the saddest fact of all is that so many of these deaths are 
preventable. With the exception of skin cancer, breast cancer is the 
most survivable of cancers and when detected in its earlier stages, it 
has a 95 percent survival rate. So it is vital that women conduct 
regular breast self-examinations and obtain regular mammograms.
  Because of The Rose and the tremendous generosity of RADX and its 
employees, more women will be able to get the screening and treatment 
they need. And most importantly, more lives will be saved.

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