Hospital upgrades diagnostic equipment

Roosevelt General Hospital will receive two new diagnostic imaging machines in the next three months, according to the hospital’s chief financial officer.

CFO Eva Stevens reported at Tuesday’s board meeting the hospital purchased a CT scanner and an MRI machine.

Stevens said the new CT scanner allows staff to diagnose trauma patients in a quicker and safer manner. She also said it will have better resolution, 3-D reconstruction, shorter scan times and lower doses of radiation.

“The (new) scanner has considerably more capabilities as far as what you can visualize than the current scanner we have,” Stevens said.

Installation of the new CT scanner, called a 16-Slice scanner, will begin on Sept. 11. He said the new scanner should be functional by Sept. 18.

Stevens said a modular building will be built and attached to the hospital, which will house the MRI machine. Installation is estimated for November.

It will replace a mobile MRI unit, which is brought to the hospital every Monday. The machine arrives at 8 a.m. and is available for use until it’s no longer needed that day.

In other news, Amber Hamilton, administrator for the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners program, spoke about her recent activity with the program since she took over as administrator July 1.

Hamilton said she has been active with the Portales Municipal Schools to provide the school district faculty and staff more information about the program.

“We’ve provided literature and posters so that we’re in all of their schools,” Hamilton said. “We have brochures that explain about our services: they provide what we do, why we do it and how we can help the victim.”

In other news:

• Hospital officials will be interviewing for a midlevel practitioner so application can be made for designation as a hospital-based rural health clinic. Getting the designation will enable the hospital to receive better reimbursement for services because of its isolation from medical facilities, Stevens said.

• Tawnya Burton was named interim director of nurses. Officials will interview for the position next week.