The scanner cost about $1.9 million, while the suite was approximately $1.3 million. Photo Credit: Shutterstock.
St. Joseph’s Hospital Charlton campus (St. Joe’s) recently unveiled that they have added a new computed tomography (CT) suite to their emergency department.
CT scanners use X-rays to take 3-D images of the body.
They can be used to find internal bleeding, blood clots, injuries to the spine and brain, bone fractures, and even certain types of cancer.
Before this new development, patients at St. Joe’s would have to be transferred to the diagnostic imaging department for a CT scan, since there was not one in the emergency room.
But now, with a scanner in the actual emergency department, the hospital says that patients will “get the scans they need sooner, reducing wait times between arrival, diagnoses, and treatment.”
St. Joe’s is reportedly the only hospital in the region to have a dedicated CT scanner in the emergency department.
Mike Heenan, the President of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, said, “We are committed to finding innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of our community, and that includes enhancing our emergency services by adding this CT suite to our emergency department.”
“The addition of this CT scanner will enable us to deliver faster diagnoses, and ensure our patients receive the best possible care when they need it most,” he continued.
The hospital says that more than 65,000 patients come through the doors of their emergency department every year and that more than 14,500 patients (22 per cent) require a CT scan for diagnoses.
That number has also reportedly been growing year over year.
Dr. Erich Hanel, Interim Chief of Emergency Medicine at St. Joe’s says that having a CT suite and scanner right in the emergency department reduces travel time and the demands on the portering team.
“With the help of our diagnostic imaging technologists and radiologists, we’ll be able to understand the nature of our patients’ illnesses or injuries sooner, so we can create the best care plans in less time, and that matters in the ED, when sometimes every second counts,” he said.
The scanner itself was financed through the hospital’s provincially funded capital budget, but St. Joe’s had to raise money to build the suite to house the scanner.
The scanner cost about $1.9 million, while the suite was approximately $1.3 million which was fundraised by the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation through community donors.
In addition to serving emergency department patients, the scanner will also be used to add capacity for screenings through the Ontario Lung Screening Program, a provincially funded program for people at high risk of getting lung cancer.
Since lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Ontario, the provincial program offers CT scans to those between 55 and 74 years of age who are smokers or former smokers.
The program is available to those who have smoked daily for at least 20 years at some point in their lives, with St. Joe’s saying that regular screening “can lower your risk of dying from lung cancer by 20 per cent if you are at high risk.”
Potential patients can self-refer online or get a referral from their doctor.
A Screening Clerk then determines if a scan is indeed suggested.
Sera Filice, President and CEO of the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation says that having a CT scanner in the emergency department “just made sense.”
“Our generous community of donors came together to raise more than $1.3 million which supported the development of the suite. We are so grateful for the support to make this project possible.”
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