Scanner shortfall — Hospital seeks community support to buy CT scanner
The hospital’s CT scanner is approaching its end-of-service life, according to Radiology Manager Keisha Brueggeman, who said the community needs to invest in a new one to keep Weston County Health Services from becoming just “a Band-Aid station.”
“If we don’t have CT, we don’t have a hospital, ultimately,” Brueggeman told the News Letter Journal. “We truly will be a Band-Aid station.”
The CT scanner allows the hospital to perform CT scans of heads, necks, abdomens, pelvises and strokes and conduct pulmonary embolism radiology studies. Brueggeman said the scans are essential for trauma, strokes, ruling out appendicitis and more, and according to federal regulations, hospitals participating in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid must “maintain, or have available, diagnostic radiologic services.”
That includes CT, Brueggeman said.
Fortunately, much of the money needed to make the purchase has already been donated. Community members Ron and Barbara Brunner donated $500,000 to the facility, with the stipulation that the funding be spent on a project to help the community, Brueggeman said. However, when she initially arranged quotes, the CT machines that the hospital was considering were well above that amount. As a result, the hospital spent some of the donated funds on the new Ortho Vitros 5600 Chemistry Analyzer it needed, but the remaining funds ($313,000) are still available for the CT scanner.
The 128-slice CT scanner the hospital selected costs $496,465.51, she said. The base price was $514,365, and the hospital is trading in its current scanner, which has a trade-in value of $17,900.
Brueggeman said she reviewed three different companies and traveled to see and test out the scanner that she selected: the Philips
Incisive 5100.
”I was able to scan on it for a full day and just absolutely fell in love with the platform, with the technology,” she said.
The scanner is equipped with Precise Image, which “ensures the lowest possible patient radiation dose and increases patient safety,” according to Brueggeman.
Brueggeman said the hospital has some potential local donors who are interested in supporting the project, and the facility is also applying for grant funding. She called U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis’ office for a list of grants in the state, and said she will attend a grant summit as well.
“We truly are looking at all options for critical access facilities, for rural health, for anything we can get our hands on,” she said.
Brueggeman said the Brunners were willing to make their donation public because they want to encourage other community members to invest in the hospital. The hospital placed the CT scanner as a high priority on its current capital equipment list and it received the Brunners’ donation so the hospital would be able to “swing it,” even if it can’t get more donations, but the team hopes the community will pitch in.
“We have signed the agreement to hold the price and any potential financing,” she said. “We are optimistic that we can raise the additional funds through donors, fundraising and grants. Our Hospital Foundation is in support of this project.”
The hospital is considering a Sept. 1 delivery date, Brueggeman said. That leaves plenty of time to raise funds, but also allows it to be installed before winter comes, she said. A month of downtime will follow the delivery of the new machine, and the hospital will park a mobile CT behind the facility.
“There will be no disruption to services,” she said.
The scanner’s cost also includes a cardiac package, which will allow the hospital to offer coronary artery scans and calcium scores so that patients don’t have to drive to Rapid City or Gillette for those tests. Calcium scores, which assess plaque buildup in the heart, are analogous to mammograms, according to Brueggeman. The hospital will receive a warranty for the equipment, so if any new platforms are released, the hospital’s new scanner will be upgraded for free, she said.
She said she wanted to make sure the hospital was prepared for the future, and she considers the equipment to be a 20-year investment into the future of the facility.
“It truly is an amazing piece of equipment that is going to be unheard of to have in a critical access facility, so it really will be a blessing for this community,” she said.
In addition to Brueggeman, the hospital has three full-time tech staff, a per-as-needed tech, and one full-time opening for its 24/7 department. Each tech must be able to perform CT, or computed tomography, and X-ray because they have to independently do these exams for trauma and stroke patients. The CT scanner allows staff to diagnose a brain bleed, an aortic dissection or a lacerated spleen.
Monthly the department performs about 100 CTs, but she believes that number will increase with the new equipment.
“We’re really working on improving services and giving patients more options to get things done here,” she said.
Brueggeman said she would like for the hospital to be able to use the cardiac program to help with cases they normally have to transfer to Monument Health or other facilities. She also wants Weston County Health Services to be able to provide images to the trauma team receiving the patient so that the receiving hospital doesn’t need to spend time acquiring images on their machines.
The hospital is often able to get patients same-day or next-day CT scan appointments, Brueggeman said. She noted the facility also serves many patients who are traveling through the area, and is on hand to help if there is an emergency like a car accident.
“I hope that people can really understand how blessed this community is to have this facility,” she said. “There’s so many great people working here and we save lives every day.”