Webster County Community Hospital

Fortunately Harris, who's the administrator of the Webster County Community Hospital in Red Cloud, Neb., had been tipped off: Someone from the Helmsley Charitable Trust would be calling to offer her hospital a chance to apply for a sizable grant.

Women from the south-central Nebraska town no longer have to drive 45 minutes to Hastings to take advantage of the research, and the number of mammographies performed at the hospital has increased 33 percent in the past year.

Offering the digital exams in York has kept patients from leaving, Burnham said. Previously the equipment came in mid-2010, she said, "we saw a decline in our numbers. I knew people were going to Lincoln. They were calling and having their records conclusively sent" to other offices.