New scanner improves hospital’s X-ray services

MATT NEVALA

June 26, 2008 at 2:08PM AKST

In a matter of minutes, a training session turned into a true test for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional Hospital’s new addition. It passed with honors and managed to put a smile on the face of a 13-year-old boy stricken with stomach pain.

So it was earlier this month, when the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. unveiled its new computed axial tomography, or CT, scanning machine and ruled out appendicitis for Harold Kitsick of Kotlik.

“I don’t really think (Kitsick) knew what was going on,” said Ronnie Fitzpatrick, YKHC’s director of diagnostic imaging. “We were in the beginning of application training when we got the first request for a scan.

“We brought (Kitsick) down in a wheelchair. He was shy and probably in some pain.

But we told him about the brand-new machine and started hyping it up. His eyes got big, we showed him how the machine worked, and he started smiling and laughing with us.”

The unveiling of the hospital’s $550,000 Siemens 16-slice CT scanning machine ended a 10-year mission to give Y-K Delta region patients advanced X-ray services closer to home. Before use of the CT machine started June 9, patients needed to travel to Anchorage for the care.

“We are heading home tomorrow and are happy we don’t have to go to Anchorage to make the trip longer,” Carolyn Kitsick, Harold’s mother, told YKHC officials after completion of her son’s CT scan.

Fitzpatrick said it cost $1.2 million for the entire project, which included the machine and the space renovation and construction of the new CT scanning room. The construction of the room commenced last fall.

The Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, the Indian Health Service, the Rasmuson Foundation, the Denali Commission and the Bethel Community Service Foundation funded the project.

A CT scanner is a machine used to take detailed pictures of specific body parts. The machine’s technology displays cross-sections through the body of specific bones, muscles, organs and blood vessels. The imaging capability is much like seeing a picture of a single slice of bread from a whole loaf.

The technology also can provide diagnosis for a large range of musculoskeletal disorders and injuries, back problems, fractures or a damaged disc in the spine, and injuries to internal organs.

“It’s huge for us,” Fitzpatrick said. “(A CT scanner) can rule out stroke, appendicitis.

Patients with pain get scanned and find out they have colon cancer. We can do angiogram studies. We can find out how open the vessels might be.”

According to hospital officials, almost 2,000 CT scan studies were conducted annually on patients who had to make the 400-mile trip to Anchorage for the care. That isn’t the case anymore.

“We know that our patients will benefit from these services at our hospital,” Fitzpatrick said. “This enhances the level of services we provide from screening to diagnosis.”

Fitzpatrick said business in the hospital’s diagnostic imaging department has really picked up since the CT scanner went to work. She anticipated doing four to five scans per day and based revenue projections on the plan.

“We did 51 in the first week, a little bit more than we anticipated,” she said.

Fitzpatrick said the hospital will now turns its attention to scoring a magnetic resonance imaging machine.

“It may take another 10 years, but we’ve already had patients asking about MRI,” Fitzpatrick said.

Long-term care facility secures
$8 million appropriation

The passing of Alaska State Senate Bill 221 last month solidified $8 million in legislative appropriations for YKHC’s creation of a long-term care facility.

In a statement, YKHC officials said it is at the threshold of realizing a long-awaited dream of bringing long-term care for elder and disabled persons to the people of Southwest Alaska.

The Senate Bill 221 appropriation is a key for YKHC after nearly a decade of work to bring Y-K Delta elders and disabled persons home from assisted living homes in others parts of the state, mainly Anchorage and Fairbanks.

“This has been an important project for all families in the Y-K Delta,” State Sen. Lyman Hoffman said.

The $8 million appropriation will be used to create a business plan, begin architectural designs and engineering and complete 100 percent of the groundwork for a nursing home. In 2003, the Bethel City Council approved a 30-year lease on land for the project south of Lulu Heron Center.

Matt Nevala can be reached at (907) 348-2480 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 480.