Believe or not this high-tech looking X-ray machine is 13 years old and out of date. Penticton Regional Hospital needs this and two other machines replaced.
(SHANNON QUESNEL / iNFOnews.ca)
June 25, 2013 - 2:30 PM
PENTICTON - Penticton Regional Hospital is already $850,000 closer to its goal of $1.5 million which will buy modern X-ray equipment with an operation cost on par with the old stuff.
The South Okanagan-Similkameen Medical Foundation needs $650,000 more to purchase three X-ray suites. The foundation launched a campaign last week to find the rest of the funds. The new pieces will replace 13-year-old X-ray equipment in the hospital's imaging department on the main floor. The gear will stay in the hospital if and whenever the $300 million patient care tower is built.
Executive director Janice Perrino said 40,000 patients were X-rayed last year. The machinery is often repaired and is in need of replacing. It uses cassettes which is previous generation technology. Currently the cassettes' information is digitized for use on computers but this results in lower quality. Perrino said it's like taking a picture of a picture.
The new gear will replace old cassette technology. Modern digital radiography uses sensors instead of traditional cassettes. This gives the advantage of an immediate image preview without costly time intensive cassette processing steps. Technicians will have more control over what they are shooting, can share data more quickly with distant medical centres and patients will be exposed to less radiation.
Hospital staff have already begun training on a portable version of the new X-ray machines. Perrino said this will be purchased so it can be wheeled to the intensive care unit or the emergency department if needed.
For more information on how one can donate go to the foundation's website or call 250-492-9027.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065 or tweet @shannonquesnel1
The South Okanagan Similkameen Hospital Foundation wants three new digital X-ray suites for Penticton Regional Hospital.
Image Credit: Source/South Okanagan Similkameen Hospital Foundation
News from © iNFOnews, 2013