September 24, 2024

Putting a CT in the ED is Something Everyone Could Get Behind

St. Joe’s is the first hospital in the region with a CT Scanner in the Emergency Department

On September 24, 2024, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton opened its brand-new CT Suite in the Emergency Department at the Charlton Campus. While the Hospital’s capital equipment budget covered the cost of the new GE Healthcare Revolution APEX Scanner, $1.4 million in donations from our generous community provided the funding for the construction of the suite to house it.

The new 1,600 square-foot state-of-the-art suite and innovative scanner are attached to the Emergency Department – which is the busiest in the city serving more than 65,000 patients annually.

Prior to its construction, when patients arrived at the ED and needed a scan, they would be transported down to Diagnostic Imaging for the procedure, then back up to the ED to await a radiologist reading and their eventual diagnosis.

Dr. Erich Hanel, Interim Chief of Emergency Medicine at St. Joe’s says patients should soon experience a quicker turnaround between their arrival, triage, diagnosis, and treatment.

By having a CT suite right in our Emergency Department, we’re reducing travel time and the demands on our portering team. With the help of our diagnostic imaging technologists and radiologists, we’ll be able to understand the nature of our patients’ illnesses or injuries sooner, so we can create the best care plans in less time,” says Dr. Hanel. “And that matters in the ED, when sometimes every second counts.”

While Emergency Department patients requiring diagnostic imaging will be giving priority access to the dedicated CT scanner, the new machine will also help the Hospital to reduce wait times for non-urgent and preventative CT Scans for cancer screening.

Our Care Teams Know this Project Is Paramount
Dr. Colm Boylan, Dr. Srinivasan Harish and their team of Diagnostic Imaging clinicians understand how crucial this project is to providing exceptional care to our community. That’s why this caring team of care providers collectively pledged $100,000 to support the CT Suite project through their personal philanthropy.

We’re grateful to the following list of donors who provided leadership gifts to support the CT Suite Construction Project.

Silver Services
BMO – Bank of Montreal
Jack Marchese
SJHH Radiology Group
Mark Tamminga & Joany Verschuuren