FORT FRANCES — The La Verendrye Hospital has new imaging equipment that will improve treatment and allow patients to have diagnostic scans done closer to home.
The Fort Frances hospital recently unveiled the new equipment, which includes a brand-new computerized tomography (CT) scanner, a new nomography unit, an elevating table, and an upgrade to their x-ray machine to digital print.
Tiffany Dolyny, a medical radiation technologist at Riverside Health Care said, “with digital, the resolution is higher. The doses [of radiation] are less and it’s faster. We had a three-minute delay before between images, now it’s like seconds.”
The switch from standard x-rays to digital x-rays saves time for the images to develop, which can make the process easier for patients who have a difficult time moving. It also reduces the amount of time patients might have to hold themselves in a painful position, and it's also easier for pediatric patients.
With the nomography unit, the digital images have a clearer resolution for physicians to detect cancer.
“The one thing with our new nomography unit is that now we have the ability to do magnification views,” Dolyny said.
Dolyny said previously, cancer care patients would need to be sent to Thunder Bay to get additional scans because the old nomography unit wasn’t equipped to take the images required to do a magnification view.
“So now we have the capability of reducing travel time by doing that imaging here,” Dolyny said.
Dolyny said that in the last two weeks, 12 patients have had additional imaging done at the hospital, instead of having to travel to Thunder Bay.
The CT scanner is offering faster imaging at a lower dose of radiation. The CT scanner is larger than the last with a larger borehole and produces less noise adding to patient comfort. In addition, bariatric patients won’t have to travel outside the community.
Like the new imagining technology, a new elevating table was a much-needed addition to the imaging department.
“Our second x-ray room here used to be a fluoroscopy room where our table was standard and was fixed table. It did not move up and down,” said Dolyny.
With the new elevating table, Dolyny said that the hospital will be able to utilize the room more efficiently to accommodate patients who are able to lift themselves onto the table.
Dolyny said a feature on the CT scanner, called the C-MAR, which identifies metal objects clearer. Metals often generate streak-like artifacts in CT scans, making it difficult for clinicians to clearly delineate between tumours and healthy tissue.
“I find it nice to be able to be up-to-date with all the equipment. We can say we are actually up-to-date now with the city centre. We could provide quality services with optimum patient care,” said Dolyny.
The community raised $1.7 million between Jan. 2021 and 2022 through various fundraising events. Something Dolyny admits wouldn’t have happened without the help from community donations.
“We are extremely fortunate to live in a community like this who have raised that much money,” said Dolyny.
