New Fluoroscopy Unit Arrives
$1 Million Donation Made to Northumberland Hills Hospital Foundation funds new fluoroscopy unit
After two years of planning, the new Canon Ultimax-1 fluoroscopy unit and accompanying TIMS Medical digital recording system has arrived and is already in use serving patients at Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH). This $1 million project was fully funded by the generosity of an anonymous bequest to the NHH Foundation.
Arriving in many different pieces, the unit was assembled on site over the course of several weeks. Visitors to the Hospital’s 15th Anniversary Open House held October 18th were some of the first to be treated to a “behind the scenes” look at this impressive new addition, which produces helpful and painless images to support the diagnosis or treatment of an illness.
NHH's Diagnostic Imaging Department continues to stand out as one of Canada's most technologically advanced for a community hospital of this size. Ongoing financial support to the NHH Foundation from the community has made this all possible. In 2008 a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) suite was established, and the hospital’s Computed Tomography (CT) scanner was replaced for the first time--two projects which, alone, cost $4.2 million and were funded by community support.
The fluoroscopy unit and TIMS Medical system is the department’s newest addition. “This new system makes it possible to perform multidirectional x-ray imaging and plays a critical role for the pain management of our patients with spinal and joint discomfort,” says Ian Moffat, NHH’s Director of Diagnostic Imaging and Laboratory Services. “Fluoroscopy allows for an area of the body to be filmed, and studied, in motion, rather than as a still, snapshot image. Think of it as a video, versus a photograph, and you can begin to get a sense of how powerful it can be from a diagnostic perspective!”