Blogs

November 15, 2011 - MRI upgrade

Nov 15, 2011 by Marc Strode, CEO
Folks,
I am very happy to share the good news with you that we are putting the final touches on the paper work that will let us move forward with upgrading our MRI in Radiology.  Obviously, the MRI is a critical diagnostic tool that not only our medical staff here depends upon, but outside physicians as well.  This significant several hundred-thousand dollar investment in technology is another example of VVRMC's commitment to quality. 

Michael Romero led the way on this product evaluation and did a lot of the leg work, including--much like our friends in Surgery--leaning on the vendor to squeeze every penny of savings off the quote.  Last week it was about $12,000 and this week just over $25,000.  Again, that's money we put back in the "spend" bucket for other things we need to take care of patients. 

Kudos also to the other members of this product evaluation team:  Dr. Sanders, Letty Flores (MRI tech), nursing directors Letty Ortiz and Michelle Fontenot, anesthesia manager Becky Alexander and our head of biomed Floyd Willis.  Nice job team!

Also, we are transitioning after the first of the year to Methodist's PACS (picture archive system) technology for storing and transmitting all x-ray images.  What this means is that when someone leaves our ED and had a CT and is being transferred up the road to Methodist, those ED docs and specialists will be able to pull up those images real-time as if the pictures were taken in San Antonio.  Conversely, if one of our neighbors has an imaging study done in San Antonio at a Methodist or STRIC facility (which there are numerous ones), our community doctors will be able to access those images and reports electronically in their offices or here in the hospital.  Pretty cool stuff. 

You will see nice press releases around both of these advances in our local newspaper as they are great stories to tell about how we just keep getting better and better and better.....

And lastly as follow-up to Friday's note, that Surgical Eval Team that made the Flat Screen TVs in women's possible through their own savings in their product selection are:  again Floyd from Biomed, Surgical Services director Mary Sartor and Johnna Antu and Roy Rodriguez from the surgery department.  Very proud of you guys!

Ya'll have a great week, enjoy this bit of rain as it falls on our lawns, and get ready for Turkey-day which is right around the corner!

Keep the Spirit,
Marc