A team of three health care professionals from the Sun Country Health Region were joined by three others from the Parkland Health Region (Prince Albert) for a quick trip to Indianapolis last week to get a first-hand look at a computed tomography (CT) scanner at work.
Greg Hoffort, executive director of St. Joseph’s Hospital, who was part of the Sun Country team, said the purchasing committee has narrowed the list of potential suppliers to three and that each one is given the opportunity to display their scanner to the working group, thus the quick trip to U.S. for the local team.
Joining Hoffort on the working excursion were Karen Ochitwa, the director of diagnostic imaging for Sun Country and Dr. Dmitri Louvish, vice-president, medical at Sun Country.
The trio is probably looking at making two more trips in the very near future to view the scanners being offered by the competing firms. Where those trips will be, is not known at this point.
“It was interesting, we saw the company’s CTs in action, talked with the operators and radiologists and they were frank about what they liked and didn’t like about them,” said Hoffort, who noted the Parkland team was carrying out their assessment in concert with Sun Country since both regions are needing CT scanners by this spring.
The trip was made through the auspices of the provincial procurement process, said Hoffort, who added he expected “that within the next couple of weeks, we’ll be down to the nitty gritty job.” That job would entail the recommendation of the purchase of one of the three scanners that are being showcased.
“It is to be a turnkey contract. That means whoever wins it will also be responsible for the renovation of the space required and the installation,” said Hoffort. That way, the health region only has to deal with one company.
“I expect our committee will have a recommendation for purchase by the end of February,” said Hoffort, who represented the hospital on the committee since it is an affiliated facility within the Sun Country structure and will be the site of the CT scanner.
Since pre-renovation work has already been completed in the diagnostic area of the hospital, Hoffort said he still held out hope that the scanner would be up and operating this spring, perhaps in April.
So far, St. Joseph’s retains the services of one fully trained and certified CT scan operator with other personnel from the imaging and diagnostic staff being readied for their training and certification processes.
The estimated cost of the entire project that includes purchase, renovation and installation is around $2 million.
Hoffort said the names of the competing firms wanting to provide the new scanner for Sun Country are being kept under wraps for competitive reasons, until the purchase decision is made.
