New CT scanner for Wrangell Medical Center

The Wrangell Medical Center has added a new weapon to its cutting edge arsenal of tools to help fight disease and promote good health.

That tool, a CT scanner, is currently housed in a trailer specially designed for the unit at the west end of the hospital – but will be moved into the new WMC building once construction is completed.

The scanner is capable of generating a three-dimensional image of the interior of an object with a series of X-ray images shot around a rotational axis. The scan technique allows physicians a non-surgical way of seeing the entire structure of the human body without the need for scalpels.

Mari Selle-Rea, WMC’s development director, said the scanner has become a reality thanks to the hard work of a number of hospital staff.

“Folks in the development office who presently, or in the past have worked here, have put in a lot of work,” Selle-Rea said. “Big kudos really go out to radiology staff as well. We brought forth the money, but the hard work, knowledge and skills of our techs are making it actually happen.”

The three technicians who will work on the scanner, Ann Kramer, Maureen Maxand and Ernie Bliss, recently spent time at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage learning the ropes from long-time techs there.

Bliss said the training they received was on a machine similar to the one now in use at WMC.

“The training we did was observation for a week in Anchorage,” Bliss said of the technician’s trip north. “In their radiology department they have two scanners, one of which is a 16-slice scanner just we like the one we have here.”

Bliss was also to the point when saying how important the scanner is to the medical center.

“It’s a must have,” Bliss added. “From a radiological standpoint, if someone comes in on a spine board, the first thing a physician will want to know is what is happening in the vertebrae. The hardest one to read on a conventional x-ray, and the first one that needs to be checked, is the C-7 vertebrae. With the CT and its diagnostic capability, it is easy, quick and simple.”

Dr. Greg Salard, a physician at Tidelines Clinic said having a CT scanner at WMC is a big step toward improving the lives of Wrangellites.

“It’s extremely important to have this scanner, especially here in Wrangell,” Salard said. “It saves time, money and lives. We can check for trauma and it also saves lives because we can now tell the difference between ischemic stroke and an intracranial bleed stroke.”

The difference between the two strokes – and properly diagnosing which one is occurring – is a life and death question the CT scanner can answer, Salard added.

“They both have the same symptoms, but without the scanner we can’t give the appropriate medications. With an ischemic stroke we can start treatment in Wrangell. If it’s a bleed, we have to send them to a surgeon. We used to have to send patients to Juneau or Ketchikan for a diagnosis.”

Another local physician, Dr. Lynn Prysunka echoed the sentiment of Dr. Salard.

“It’s wonderful to have CT capability in Wrangell,” Prysunka added. “It helps diagnose or rule out conditions that may have required patients to leave town, possibly by Medevac previously. It’s a wonderful addition to local services.”

Funding from the Denali Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Murdock Charitable Trust helped pave the way for the scanner to come to Wrangell. According to Selle-Rea, no local money was needed to pay for the unit.

“Without the support and grant funding of the three groups it would have been much more difficult to bring the scanner into service,” she said.

The scanner was purchased from Medical Imaging Resources of Ann Arbor, Mich., and was delivered to Wrangell in June.