Have you ever needed an X-ray? If not you will almost certainly know someone who has. Medical imaging touches nearly every disease or condition. It’s an essential tool for our healthcare professionals to determine diagnosis and treatment.
Persistent headaches that can’t be explained, pain or trauma caused by a fall or accident, or abdominal pain that doesn’t go away are all reasons your physician may send you for a diagnostic imaging exam. With the remarkable ability to see under your skin and into your organs, imaging provides answers to medical questions previously only understood through exploratory surgery.
The first clinical use of X-rays was in 1896. Since then, more than 5 billion X-ray examinations have been conducted worldwide. The X-ray machine at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital (SPH) has made a solid contribution to this result – it’s been in continuous use for the past 16 years! An incredible number (over 20,000) X-ray exams are completed at SPH each year. Medical Radiological Technologists are trained to help position patients and, taking the necessary views, the radiologists review and report to a patient’s doctor.
This year the Saanich Peninsula Hospital and Healthcare Foundation (SPHHF) is fundraising to bring a new X-ray machine to SPH. The current machine is not just old, it’s well past the end of its expected life. In addition, with the new demands surrounding COVID, the room that houses the machine needs renovations to allow more than one entrance/exit way.
A new X-ray machine will do more than diagnose broken bones and pneumonia (although that’s important). It will be faster, will expose patients to less radiation and will also allow Medical Imaging to work more closely with the Surgical Services department. The Manager of Medical Imaging, Allen Lavoie, sees the real potential of a new machine: “A new state-of-the-art Siemens x-ray machine would provide so much opportunity for us. It is a reliable, easy to use machine that provides some of the highest quality images at reduced radiation dose to our patients. At the Saanich Peninsula Hospital, we want to offer the best service to our clients with the best equipment available. We want to offer virtually all required medical imaging right here at our local hospital for Peninsula residents.”
Generous donations to SPHHF have supported the purchase of big-ticket items like this in the past. This includes the Saanich Peninsula Hospital’s CT Scanner “The Force”. The new Siemens X-ray machine will continue the tradition of state-of-the-art equipment for the highly skilled staff to use, benefiting the whole Peninsula community. The Medical Imaging department is constantly looking for ways to expand and improve the service offered to Peninsula residents, as well as ways to support other services such as the Surgical Services program at SPH, and the BC Cancer Agency.
Donor support will ensure that high-quality community healthcare remains, and grows, on the Saanich Peninsula.
Find out more: www.sphf.ca/X-Ray
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