Gifford recently acquired and installed a new GE Revolution CT scan. It arrived in late September and took a week for GE’s crew to install, calibrate and test it before training Gifford’s staff on how to use it.
“The upgrade in technology means a huge advantage for us and our patients,” Gifford Radiology Technologist, Anna Marisseau said. “We can get people in and out faster.”
The new CT scan has twice as many detectors as our previous machine, meaning shortened scan times for patients. Less time in the CT scan will result in a decrease in radiation exposure.
“You can get an area scanned in one rotation as opposed to several,” Marisseau said.
The 3-D images produced by the machine will be clearer, higher quality, and arrive much faster. Anxious patients won’t wait long to find out the outcome of their scan, because our technologists will be able to see everything in real-time.
Planning for the CT scan’s arrival started many months ago when the Radiology Team went through a rigorous vendor selection process to select the appropriate unit. In April, the new GE Revolution was ordered and its installation came weeks after a major construction project to upgrade Gifford’s electrical system.
“The timing of the electrical upgrade dictated the installation,” Gifford Vice President of Support Services, Doug Pfohl said. “The CT scan required adjustments to our ventilation and heating and cooling systems to ensure the machine stays cool. That was achieved thanks to the electrical upgrade.”
From the planning to installation, Gifford’s Facilities, Radiology and Information Technologies teams were kept busy. Facilities removed and replaced the floor in Radiology where the new machine would sit, while IT made sure no patient data was lost or corrupted during the transfer from the old unit to the new one. IT also had to secure the information from a mobile CT unit, brought in to ensure the hospital could still serve its patients during the process. The Radiology Team had to train on the mobile unit, create protocols and work with one another to make certain during this transition, exams were of the highest quality.
“I am always amazed at the staff’s dedication and commitment to our community in projects such as this,” Director of Ancillary Services, Pam Caron said. “They have spent hours learning a new platform, working out of a mobile unit and covering multiple shifts all while in the middle of a pandemic. This is a truly remarkable group of technologists who we are lucky to have on our team.”
“Down to the coordination and safety, working in an occupied ER, Facilities, Radiology and IT did an amazing job,” Pfohl said. “It was a seamless transition that wouldn’t have been possible without their hard work.”
Another team effort at Gifford leads to a new CT scan for our radiology department and a continued commitment that the health and well-being of our community come first.
“People come here because it’s a small area hospital,” Marisseau said. “The patients expect us to give them our best and I think this new CT scan is a great addition to that.”
