Patients at Mineral Community Hospital will soon benefit from studies using the latest in X-ray technology made possible through a grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare Program.

The Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded the Mineral Community Hospital $222,000 for a portable X-ray machine, part of a $14.2 million initiative to upgrade X-ray technology for 50 rural hospitals in the Upper Midwest.

The portable X-ray machine lets staff go to the patient, rather than the patient come to the X-ray facility at the hospital. It has an arm that extends and allows for easy X-ray images of the chest, abdomen, pelvis and extremities. No film is used, rather the images are sent through PACS, or the Picture Archiving Communication System said Chris Watson, the manager of radiology at Mineral Community Hospital. Many hospitals share in this system, Medical Imaging Associates, which is based out of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Through Medical Imaging Associates, the X-rays are examined by a variety of radiologists who are experts in the fields of Neuroradiology, Body Imaging, Musculoskeletal Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, General Radiology, Cardiac Imaging, and Breast Imaging. They also provide their services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Mineral Community Hospital is extremely grateful to the Helmsley Charitable Trust for their continued support of rural healthcare,” said Steve McNeece, Mineral Community Hospital CEO. “This grant will allow us to provide enhanced patient care.”

The Charitable Trust received over 300 letters of intent to receive this grant funding. “We are lucky to have received it,” said Watson. “It’s a pretty elite piece of equipment.”

Facilities that received the grant were selected based on the greatest need demonstrated through rurality, financial need and current X-ray equipment age. Overall, this $14.2 million grant purchased 87 new pieces of X-ray equipment to 50 hospitals in seven U.S. states. This is the third gift Mineral Community Hospital has received from the Helmsley Charitable Trust. They have also received grants for a 32-slice CT Scanner and a Digital Mammography machine over the past few years.

Mineral Community Hospital is a “level 5” hospital. There are six capability levels, with Level 1 managing the least complex patients and Level 6 managing the most complex patients. It is the only hospital between Kellogg, Idaho and Missoula and is important due to the high number of accidents on Interstate-90.

“So far this fiscal year from July 1, 2018, through Feb. 28, 2019, we have seen 988 Emergency Room visits for an average of 123.5 per month,” said Stacey Conrow-Ververis, Director of Finance and Human Resources. “Of course this includes anyone who comes into the ER so (this number) does not necessarily (reflect) trauma or patients in need of X-rays.”

Walter Panzirer, a Trustee for the Helmsley Charitable Trust, said the initiative represents the organization’s latest multi-site initiative to improve the quality of healthcare available to rural residents in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming.

“Our goal has always been to improve access to exceptional medical treatment for those who live in rural America,” said Panzirer. “To that end, rural hospitals need to remain viable and have the latest equipment to ensure their patients can receive essential, quality healthcare services locally. This initiative is just one of many that strive to improve healthcare outcomes throughout the Upper Midwest.”

Panzirer said critical access hospitals in the seven-state region are hampered by outdated equipment. Over the last four years, the Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare Program has awarded more than $30 million in grants to 82 hospitals in the Upper Midwest to purchase state-of-the-art computer tomography (CT) scanners.

The Helmsley Charitable Trust’s latest initiative addresses out-of-date X-ray technology that underserves patients and jeopardizes the health of physicians and X-ray technicians, according to Panzirer.

The $14.2 million in grants will allow replacement of a total of 87 pieces of equipment, including: 32 fixed X-ray devices with an average life of 16 years; 48 portable X-ray devices with an average of 28 years; two fixed fluoroscopy devices averaging nine years; and five portable C-arms with an average age of 16 years.

“We are very fortunate to have a good relationship with the Helmsley Charitable Trust,” said Conrow-Ververis. “Representatives from the trust have been out here and have seen our facility. They know we are good with our patients and that we are important out here.”

Mineral Community Hospital has a team of four radiology technicians, including Anndenia Heyer, Dan Thompson, Chris Watson and Roland McCrea. For more than 10 years hospitals have become more reliant on using PACS, especially rural hospitals. “This allows for improved patient care by offering services we otherwise may not be able to provide,” said Watson.

Training for the new X-ray machine will be held on April 9.