LIHU‘E — The next time you tweak a shoulder or ram a knee into your desk, help might just be a few miles away. Wilcox Memorial Hospital officials broke ground yesterday on their $14-million Imaging Center. The center, which will
LIHU‘E — The next time you tweak a shoulder or ram a knee into your desk, help might just be a few miles away.
Wilcox Memorial Hospital officials broke ground yesterday on their $14-million Imaging Center. The center, which will be completed by late 2005, will house the latest imaging technology that could save time, money and, most importantly, lives.
In the case of traumatic injury, such as a car accident resulting in head injury, the new million-dollar Computed Tomography (CT) scanner will allow local medical experts to assess an injury and stabilize patients right on the island.
“It’s give us a better, faster initial assessment,” said Dr. Lee Evslin, president and chief executive officer of Wilcox Health.
If the injury requires a trip to Queen’s in Honolulu, the state’s critical-care hospital, “we can stabilize them before they go,” Evslin said.
The CT scanner will also help with full-mouth dental scanning, advanced cardiac imaging, colonoscopies, and fluoroscopies for biopses.
Meanwhile, the center’s new million-dollar Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system will help diagnose and treat everything from nagging shoulder pain to life-threatening conditions such as brain and nervous-system disorders, cardiovascular disease, cancer and organ disease.
“About a third of our patients have had to go to O‘ahu for MRIs,” Evslin said. “Now we’ll be able to handle most of them here.”
Wilcox performs nearly 10 MRIs per day. With the new machine, they’ll be able to accommodate another five to 10 patients each day, said Wella Estrada, MRI supervisor at Wilcox.
“We should have the MRI ready to go by this winter,” Estrada said.
Wilcox has raised enough in grants and donations to purchase the machines. Another million dollars will be used to purchase a nuclear camera.
Near the new Imaging Center will be five new operating rooms.
The new equipment and operating rooms mean that residents might no longer have to travel off-island for assessment and treatment, saving them time, transportation and housing costs.
Wilcox is affiliated with Hawaii Pacific Health, which includes Kapi‘olani Health and Straub Clinic and Hospital. HPH leaders committed $11 million to the completion of the Wilcox’s new center.
Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste was on hand for the blessing and groundbreaking. The blessing was given by Kahu Nani Hill of Koloa United Church.
Business Editor Phil Hayworth may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or mailto:phayworth@pulitzer.net.
