The province has committed funding to the purchase and operation of the new scanner, as well as the construction of the new space to house it.<\/p>\n
FORT FRANCES \u2014 A senior hospital official in the Rainy River District says an incoming MRI scanner is \u201cabsolutely amazing\u201d for the hospital in Fort Frances and will help healthcare in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means that when you’re 82 years old and your 84-year-old husband doesn’t have to drive you in December in a snowstorm to an MRI, stay overnight, and have an appointment at 2 or 3 a.m., and then drive you home through the same snowstorm,\u201d said Joanne Ogden, the quality assurance auditor and Ontario health team executive lead at Riverside Health Care.<\/p>\n
For people in Fort Frances alone, it\u2019s about 350 kilometres away.<\/p>\n
Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford announced funding for the project in Fort Frances on Thursday. The province has also funded new MRI suites in Kenora<\/a> and Sioux Lookout<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re delivering the full package: capital dollars, operational support and a commitment to care that reflects the needs of the Northwest,\u201d Rickford was quoted as saying in a media release, which added that the support also includes the renovation of just over 1,400 square feet of space to house the MRI.<\/p>\n \u201cFamilies in Fort Frances, Kenora, Sioux Lookout and beyond will no longer have to make the long drive down the Trans-Canada Highway for MRIs at all hours of the night.\u201d<\/p>\n The capital and operational support totals $3 million, Ogden said. The cost and style of the building expansion hasn\u2019t been finalized yet, and the amount the government would commit to that is still in negotiations, she added.<\/p>\n Both Ogden and the province\u2019s press release said having a state-of-the-art scanner in Fort Frances will also help physicians in the work they do.<\/p>\n