Good news for health care in northeastern Ontario.
Health Sciences North (HSN) is getting a much-needed second magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.
A MRI provides valuable and lifesaving information for patients across northeastern Ontario on everything from the functionality of a heart to allowing less invasive treatments for patients diagnosed with diseases such as prostate cancer.
HSN will also retrofit its current MRI that’s operating 24 hours a day, seven days per week.
“We have patients coming here for MRI appointments at 3 a.m.,” says Dr. Killian De Blacam, President of the Medical Staff at HSN. “They’re often travelling long distances in harsh conditions from outside Greater Sudbury -- so a second machine will mean faster access to scans and more patient-friendly hours. As Northeastern Ontario’s academic health sciences centre, it is essential HSN be well equipped with state-of-the-art technology to support its regional role in areas like thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, cardiology, oncology and pediatrics.”
The Health Sciences North Foundation has raised $3.5 million towards the purchase of a new MRI and helping retrofit the existing machine, which has a total estimated price tag of $7 million.
HSN plans to have two fully functioning MRI’s in operation in the first half of 2021.
