Houlton Hospital Gets New Imaging Camera
By Jen Lynds, Bangor Daily News, Maine
Sep. 1–HOULTON — It is a massive camera with a hefty price tag, but the benefits it will provide to residents of Houlton and surrounding communities will be immeasurable.
A new nuclear medicine imaging camera was officially dedicated at Houlton Regional Hospital Thursday afternoon, during a ceremony attended by hospital administrators and staff, area residents, and board members and supporters of the Houlton Regional Health Services Foundation.
In early July, the foundation bestowed $302,000 upon HRH officials so they could replace the hospital’s approximately 15-year-old nuclear medicine imaging camera with a new, state-of-the-art model.
The machine uses radioactive isotopes to pinpoint a specific problem without having to scan the entire body. It was described by officials Thursday as an upgraded, more reliable piece of equipment that will enhance patient care for years to come.
The foundation raises money that it then pours back into the community, and foundation officials conducted several fundraisers for more than a year to garner the money to secure the camera.
The entire cost of the equipment was covered by the foundation.
“We wanted to do this for the hospital so they would not have to pick up the cost of this,” Elizabeth Dulin, executive director of the foundation, said during the ceremony. “We are very proud that the hospital has this equipment. It is going to help a lot of people.”
Tom Moakler, the hospital’s chief executive officer, praised the foundation for its ongoing support and assistance with securing the camera.
“We are so pleased to have this machine to better assist our patients,” he told the crowd.
Alan Abar, a nuclear medicine technologist at the hospital, said the new camera will allow staff to conduct many different scans on patients.
“We will be able to do bone and lung scans, heart scans, renal scans and a variety of others,” he explained. “Our patients can stay right here in Houlton for these tests instead of having to travel to other hospitals.”
The new camera also is faster than the older version, according to Abar, allowing scans to be done more quickly.
The foundation’s latest equipment purchase tops a long list of good works that the foundation has done for Houlton and the surrounding area. Over the past few years, foundation grants have helped pay for a handicapped-accessible van, a defibrillator for a local school, and a new pediatric suite at the hospital.
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