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CT Replacement to begin in N.B.

Aug 3, 2017 | 12:00 PM

It’s been a long-time coming but North Battleford Union Hospital (BUH) will finally have its new computerized tomography (CT) scanner in place by mid-September and patients will see no interruption in local scanning services during the changeover.

Replacement of the CT scanner will begin on August 8.  The removal of the existing machine, renovations to the CT room to accommodate the new scanner plus installation, calibration, testing, inspection and certification of the new equipment is expected to take six weeks to complete.

“We have a mobile unit available that we will bring into the Battlefords Union Hospital,” Cheryl Mitchell, Regional Director of Medical Imaging Services for the Prairie North Health Region, said. “It will be on-site for about six weeks while the replacement work is completed.”

The new CT scanner is to be in operation at the BUH the week of September 18, delivering its first services to patients.

“This new 160-slice CT scanner which gives us 10 times more scans than the existing unit,” Mitchell added. “The new scanner is much faster and has less radiation plus the quality of the images will be greatly improved as well.”

The Prairie North Health Region received government approval in November to replace the aging CT scanner in North Battleford which will cost $1.2 million. The Saskatchewan government provided half of the funding amount with the BUH Foundation raising $600,000.

Claudette McGuire of the BUH Foundation said it is exciting to see all the fundraising efforts become a reality.

“It’s really exciting for us to see this come to fruition,” McGuire said. “The CT scanner was my first capital campaign with the foundation and together with the volunteers and donors from the area we were able to raise the funds we needed.”

CT services were first launched in North Battleford in October 2005.

 

roger.white@jpbg.ca

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