OTTAWA — Ransom Memorial Hospital will replace its magnetic resonance imager. Hospital trustees voted Tuesday night to proceed with the replacement project, which will cost $800,000 to $900,000. The present MRI, which is in a truck trailer on the north side of the hospital, is about 10 to 15 years old and is having some maintenance problems, chief hospital finance officer Dean Ohmart said. The hospital bought the trailer-mounted MRI six and half years ago and expected to use it five years, he said. Although the unit still works, at some point it will fail and the hospital could face a $30,000 per month bill to bring in a temporary unit, he said. “We’re trying to be proactive,” Ohmart said. In addition, RMH doctor, especially Dale Dallenberg, need better MRI images, he said. MRIs are used to shoot images of soft tissues inside the body. Normally, renovating a section of the hospital and bringing in a new MRI would cost $2 million to $3 million, he said. However, a company new to the area has offered bring in a specially-built modular-style building and MRI at a discount rate, he said. Because it would be the company’s first such unit in the region, the company offered a discount rate so they could bring other hospitals’ officials and technicians to tour “the model unit,” Ohmart said. “We said sure,” he said. The project would take up to 120 days to complete, he said.
Wednesday, May 22, 4 p.m.
