Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) and Huntsville Hospital Foundation today announced and celebrated the long-awaited SPECT-CT Nuclear Medicine Suite. The $2.6 million addition and upgrade in Huntsville will improve diagnostic care for patients and families from Parry Sound to Gravenhurst as early as this summer.
“The new technology improves diagnosis through higher quality and faster imaging – that gives our professionals more precise information and that, in turn, advances the care we can provide right here,” says MAHC President & CEO Cheryl Harrison. “Our entire hospital team is so proud of our community donors for making this happen and especially The Sprott Foundation for their leadership gift.”
Up to 2,000 nuclear medicine tests are completed in Huntsville annually, allowing patients across the Muskoka region and in East Parry Sound to receive diagnostic services closer to home. That reduces travel, stress and speeds professional analysis, all benefits of high quality, local hospital care. The combined scans made possible by the new SPECT-CT camera improve precision and complement existing diagnostics technology at the hospital. In addition, the CT capability of the machine provides backup to facilitate imaging for urgent stroke cases during any downtime of the existing CT scanner, eliminating the need to transfer these urgent patients to another stroke facility.
“Helping our hospital update diagnostics and imaging capacity and quality has been the key outcome of our Focus On Imaging fundraising effort to date,” says Foundation CEO Katherine Craine. “Much of that effort has been behind the scenes, but today we’re making it public as part of the Nuclear Medicine Suite announcement. I’m pleased to report that efforts to date have generated over $7,400,000 in donations or almost 75% of the campaign goal of $10,000,000. Now we need the entire community to get involved and help finish the job. I know we can do it.”
The Focus On Imaging campaign will help the hospital replace or update aging X-ray equipment, ultrasound machines, our CT Scanner, echocardiogram units and mammography technology in addition to Muskoka’s first MRI. Focus On Imaging was launched in August of 2021 and is scheduled to end early next calendar year with all targets achieved.
