With thanks to hundreds of caring donors, patients will receive better care

The new and 100% donor-funded CT scanner has arrived at Guelph General Hospital

Donors provide our Hospital with nearly every piece of patient care equipment, and today, your impact on patient care is felt more than ever.

Dr. Samir Patel, Chief of Diagnostic Imaging describes the CT scanner as “the work-horse of the Diagnostic Imaging department” at our Hospital.

That is because it is used so frequently to help diagnose and monitor so many types of illnesses. It’s used frequently in the Emergency Department to quickly diagnose illness, and also in the on-going care of patients admitted to the Hospital.

The CT scanner is used in the diagnosis of cancer and to help see if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. It is also used to help diagnose stroke and inform physicians of the best treatment for the stroke. And as Guelph General Hospital is the regional Vascular Centre, our CT scanner is kept very busy diagnosing illness within the blood vessels.

The new scanner replaces a worn and outdated CT scanner that “has put in many, many hours since going live in June 2005,” explains Mike Lindsay, Director of Diagnostic Imaging. “Our best guess is that it has done over 300,000 scans since then.”

Last year, the Hospital placed a new CT scanner at the top of its priority list and many donors responded generously. It was an urgent priority because of how many patients the CT scanner serves and because the old CT scanner was no longer reliable.

“It broke down and needed repairs more frequently,” explained Dr. Patel. In fact, while the Foundation was fundraising for the new CT scanner, the old one broke down and was out of service for three days. Dr. Patel said “this had a massive impact on our Hospital’s ability to deliver the best possible care to its patients.”

The impact included delayed and cancelled appointments, prolonging hospital stays and increasing anxiety and frustration for our patients.

Now because of our caring donors, Guelph General Hospital has a new and reliable scanner – and advanced too. Technology changes rapidly and in the thirteen years since our last CT scanner was purchased, many advancements have been made that will help deliver even better patient care.

The new CT scanner gives sharper images to more accurately diagnose and monitor disease. It is also able to provide vivid images in areas of the body where metal objects such as hip or knee replacements are. In the past, the metal interfered with the image. It uses lower doses of radiation. As an example, when being used to take images of the heart, the scanner uses up to 82% less radiation. This is especially important for children and those who need multiple scans.

Donna Bryson expressed her gratitude to everyone who donated to the new CT scanner. Donna lovingly refers to the Hospital as “The Guelph General Hotel” because of how much time she has spent at the Hospital with her husband John.

John has received care at Guelph General Hospital for stroke, kidney failure and for cancer. Donna has kept extensive notes and reports that John has had at least six CT scans in relation to these illnesses. For Donna and John, a reliable CT scanner that uses lower doses of radiation means a lot.

The original budget for the CT scanner was more than $1 million. Thanks to the impressive negotiating skills of our Materials Management team, we were able to purchase the machine for significantly less than we anticipated.

Donations for the scanner were raised through direct mail campaigns, email appeals, memorial gifts, special events including Fore Our Hospital Golf Tournament and Tour de Guelph, and two very generous major gifts.

“Our donors should feel incredibly proud because they paid for 100% of the new scanner” said Suzanne Bone, CEO of The Foundation of Guelph General Hospital. “There’s no question that lives are saved and health is improved every day at Guelph General Hospital because of our caring donors.”