KEOSAUQUA, IOWA -- In honor of October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this year’s often painful and uncomfortable mammogram will be more comfortable, and better at detecting suspicious lumps.

Van Buren County Hospital, located in Keosauqua, Iowa, has added pink MammoPad cushions to their exams.

“It just adheres to the paddle, so when the woman's breast is placed on the paddle, it's kind of a cushiony [surface], and studies have shown that a lot of women, because it is a lot more comfortable and warmer, they lean in more towards it, so we are able to get better images because we're not having to work so hard to get them to do something that's sometimes intimidating for them,” said Betsy Caviness, Radiology Manager.

The MammoPads are one-time use only, so each woman gets her own for sanitation purposes. Caviness said the mammogram procedure is still the same. Every woman has a different breast-density, so technicians must continue to compress, in order to flatten-out the tissue and look for calcifications, which are sometimes hidden. But, she said patients have noticed a huge difference between the non-cushioned mammograms and those with a MammoPad.

The MammoPads will continue to be used after Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Van Buren County Hospital has also added new digital technology through a mobile, breast-exam unit, as compared to the old analog-procedure. This makes Van Buren County the only hospital in the area to provide MammoPads and digital mammography.

“What's different between digital and analog mammography is that digital is computer-based, so that the images of the woman's breast goes into a work station in the hospital, where the radiologist can pull those images up and he can look at the certain area that he may think is suspicious,” said Caviness. “He can kind-of pull that up, magnify it, look at it really close, manipulate the images some, and it's very beneficial for the patient.”

Caviness and the hospital highly recommend monthly, at-home, self breast-exams.

“A lot of women say, 'oh I don't do those because I can't tell,’ 'I'm very lumpy-bumpy,' but what I tell them is if you do a self-breast exam every month, at the same time, you'll get to kind-of know, 'oh that's different,' or 'oh that's bigger and I should really go in and have my provider check that out.' The American Cancer Society recommends that you get a baseline exam at age 35, then after [age] 40, you should get one every year.”

Also in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the hospital has been passing out goody bags, with manicure-sets inside.

Van Buren County Hospital is located at 304 Franklin St., in Keosauqua, Iowa.