JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) - A Joplin facility for mammograms and breast cancer patients has reopened since being destroyed in the May 2011 tornado.
The Joplin Globe reports (http://bit.ly/SVg7bi) that a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Friday for Mercy Breast Center, marking another step in the rebuilding of Joplin's Mercy Hospital since the tornado killed 161 people and demolished a large section of the city.
The new site for Mercy Breast Center will be in use until the new hospital opens in March 2015.
Dr. W. Curt Dandridge, medical director and surgeon at the center, says about 500 women are on a waiting list for mammograms. He says Mercy Breast Center represents an $800,000 investment by Mercy.
Since the tornado, the breast center was operating at a hospital in Carthage and in a mobile mammography unit.