GC Health Service’s CT scan put to good use for our County

    Recently Taylor Waltman was seriously injured during a home football game.  He required emergency transport from the game to our local Emergency Department.

   A CT scan (computed tomography) was performed on the new machine at Garden County Health Services.  It was transmitted to RegionalWestMedicalCenter in Scottsbluff through high speed data transfer lines, or telerad.  The Radiologist reviewed the study within ten minutes, and returned a call to the ER physician.               
  
   Taylor was taken to RWMC on Saturday.  From there, the CT scan was sent to Poudre Valley Emergency Room in Fort Collins.  The images beat Taylor there and the specialist had time to study them before he arrived. QualityCT scanning equipment and competent CT techs at Garden County Health Services saved Taylor the discomfort, time and expense of having the CT scan repeated by either of the specialists Taylor saw later.     
   
    Taylor isn’t the only patient the CT scanner has helped since it was set up and running on February 28, 2008.  From it’s opening, until the present, 117 CT scan have been performed.  28 of these scans were patients seen in the Emergency Department.  In the month of August alone, 150 procedures were done in the Radiology Department, and of these 150 examines, 34 were CT scans.   
  
   Head and sinus, facial bones, spinal, chest abdominal and pelvis, and the extremities are areas most commonly studied with the CT scanner.  Contrast, a radio opaque medium, can be administered intravenously or orally to enhance the images.
   
   The Radiology Department is staffed 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with qualified and knowledgeable technicians that are excited about having the opportunity to provide this diagnostic service to Oshkosh and the surrounding communities.