FOLEY — South Baldwin residents now don’t have far to go for mammograms or bone tests.

That’s because South Baldwin Regional Medical Center now has a Women’s Imaging Center, which was introduced to the public in an open house Friday morning.

Located at 161 W. Peachtreee Ave., in Foley, the center now offers digital imaging mammography and bone-density testing.

“It’s a great benefit to the community,” Center Radiologist John Campbell said at the open house.

That benefit comes in the form of offering such diagnostic-imaging services as CT scans, ultrasounds, the previously mentioned digital mammography, nuclear medicine, MRI’s, PET/CT scans and bone-density testing. According to South Baldwin RMC CEO Keith Newton, that’s quite a benefit.

“I think this may be the only women’s-imaging center in this area,” he said.

With the focus on women in mind, the center is designed to get patients in and out of the facility as quickly as possible.

“It takes 30-45 minutes,” Center Supervisor Koirsha Rouse said.

That time spent is designed to be pleasant. It starts with a changing room, in which patients change into either a white or pink, fluffy robe. From there, they relax in a waiting room that offers magazines and snacks with a soundtrack of spa music playing in the background. It’s a design that seems to be paying off.

“We had a lady here the other day and it took a little longer than usual,” Rouse said, explaining that the patient didn’t even notice the time because of the environment.

Work on the center started a year ago.

“With the total amount of equipment, it was a $900,000 project,” Newton said.

The facility opened earlier this year.

In conjuction with the center’s open house was an open house for South Baldwin Surgical Associates, located across the street from the center.