Innovating Northern Health Care: SAH to Upgrade MRI Machine

Sault Area Hospital (SAH) has purchased a new MRI machine which will be installed by the end of the summer. Decommissioning of the current MRI will begin on May 15. There will be minimal interruption to patient MRI services at SAH.

“Plans were set in motion at the beginning of this year to replace this essential diagnostic tool at our hospital,” says Franci Rogers, Manager of Diagnostic Imaging and Project Lead. “We celebrated 10 years in 2021 – which means our current Phillips MRI Magnet is also 10 years old.”

According to Rogers, maintaining this vital diagnostic service for patients was an important consideration for SAH. “We did not want our patients to be without this resource until we replaced the magnet – it was just not an option.” As a result, SAH has secured a portable MRI trailer that will support SAH’s transition between the current Phillips MRI and the new Siemens Magnetom Sola MRI equipment.

“Throughout this process, we were committed to finding the best possible solution, not only for our patients, but for our community as a whole. We worked hard to find this temporary replacement that is every bit as capable and dependable as our current in-house unit,” says Rogers. “This process from start to finish, has been developed with the patient experience in mind.”

The portable unit will be installed, tested and authorized for use, to ensure it meets our quality and standards for patient care. “If all goes according to plan, the new MRI machine will be ready for patient use by the end of the summer,” says Rogers.

SAH wishes to acknowledge and thank the Sault Area Hospital Foundation are area donors for their generous support in purchasing a new MRI for Algoma residents.

For more information about SAH, please visit www.sah.on.ca

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